JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Plans for a Riverton child care center billed as a prototype for other facilities built with state funding are back on track after a period of uncertainty.
Bids for the construction project came in $500,000 over the budget. That prompted Bailey Enterprises, which had planned to operate the center, to withdraw from the project.
But a new owner, Smart Start Academy, has stepped forward, and the building's design has been scaled back to lower the cost, said Phil Christopherson, Riverton's economic development director.
The original size of the building was 14,800 square feet but included offices for the owner's business. The office area has been removed from the plan, cutting the total size of the building by 40 percent.
Christopherson said the capacity will remain the same. The day care center, to be built at the Central Wyoming College Business Park, will provide room for 90 infants and children.
In January 2006, the State Loan and Investment Board, which includes the governor and the other four elected officials, approved a $1.48 million Business Ready Communities grant for the day care center. The application had been submitted by IDEA Inc., a Riverton economic development group, as a way to allow more people to enter Wyoming's tight work force.
The Wyoming Business Council, which runs the Business Ready Communities program, had recommended against the grant. The council agreed that there's a great need for more child care in the state, but said the day care proposal wasn't a good fit for the Business Ready Communities program.
Since then, the State Loan and Investment Board has approved additional grants for day care centers in Rock Springs and Sheridan.
At the time the Riverton grant was approved, then-State Auditor Max Maxfield called it a "prototype" for child care centers around the state because it was a cooperative effort of the public and private sectors. The community put up a $293,000 match for the grant money.
The center will operate from 8 to 5 p.m. and also will offer nontraditional hours to accommodate parents who work shifts.