3 days ago
JSDC board approves funding for Explorers Academy expansion
Jun. 10—JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. unanimously approved funding on Monday, June 9, to help an existing child care center with its expansion.
The funding request from Explorer's Academy Jamestown LLC was for $10,000 through the JSDC's Daycare Expansion Assistance Program that helps new child care startups and existing remodeling projects increase capacity.
The city's share will be $8,000 with the county's share being $2,000.
Explorer's Academy Jamestown LLC, which does business as Explorers Academy, is expanding its child care center that provides care for infants to school-aged children, said Alyssa Looysen, business development director at JSDC. She said the expansion gives Explorers Academy flexibility to grow its after-school care program and its current capacity of other age groups.
Explorers Academy currently does not have any openings, said Tyler Liebel, chief financial operations officer.
"There's as great a need now as there ever has been for day care, and what this addition would allow us to do is to expand our operations from 60 enrollments to upwards of 90 with the focus primarily being school age," he said.
Liebel said the expansion includes adding 600-foot-square two classrooms, two full bathrooms and a utility room that will service the new addition on the southeast side of the current building. He said some playground equipment will be updated and securing the playground area.
With the expansion, he said Explorers Academy will add five to six full-time employees or eight to nine part-time employees or a combination of the two.
The cost of the project is $592,000.
Liebel said half the project will be financed through North Dakota Development Fund Inc. He said the other half will be financed through owner equity.
The North Dakota Development Fund provides flexible gap financing through loans and equity investments not available from most conventional lenders for the purpose of economic development, according to the North Dakota Department of Commerce's website.
