TRYING TO FIND
Your options are about to expand. Two major child care franchises are moving into Spotsylvania County.
Construction is nearly complete for The Learning Experience, which is going up on Routes 2 and 17 across from the River Club subdivision. The Parsippany, N.J.-based company plans to open the center in March.
Primrose School, which is based in Atlanta, expects to begin work on its location here in Southpoint I at Massaponax in April. It's expected to be finished
"The loan situation is tough," he said.
Despite the economic downturn, both The Learning Experience and Primrose School say the demand for child care remains strong.
"The fact is, while employment is down, there are still a lot of people working, a lot of need for child care," said Meghan O'Hare, marketing director for The Learning Experience.
Local contractors Kevin Phillips and Lee Garrison are building a 10,000-square-foot building and 5,000-square-foot playground that they'll lease to a Learning Experience franchisee. They hope to have the certificate of occupancy by the end of this month or early February, Garrison said.
The contractors originally planned to finish by last November, but started later than they'd anticipated, he said.
The Learning Experience also plans to open a second site on Plantation Boulevard in Spotsylvania in another year or so, according to O'Hare.
Primrose School has a site at 4840 Southpoint Drive under contract and is going through rezoning. Construction is expected to begin in early May.
"Depending on the weather and so forth, we'll probably have an Octoberish opening date," Thaxton said.
He said Primrose franchisees have been having trouble getting financing, especially since Small Business Administration loans have been frozen. His company is now working with local banks, which usually have more money to lend, and the SBA is trying to thaw the loan freeze with several new steps to make the federally guaranteed loans more attractive to lenders.
"Typically, the major lenders we deal with will finance the bigger part through the SBA, and send the rest off to their conventional banking sources," Thaxton said. "Those have dried up."
Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com