The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority met this week and looked at how they could help expand daycare opportunities in the City of Crookston.
CHILDCARE OPERATOR GRANT
The board first approved a $3,000 grant for a daycare provider that will take over the facility on Ingersol Avenue (by the Transfer Station) in Crookston. The grant will help with supplies and equipment.
CHILDCARE HOME CONSTRUCTION DISCUSSION
The second item in the childcare discussion was Childcare Housing. Since the CHEDA board prioritized childcare, they have talked with the Business of Childcare. The Business of Childcare works with communities and organizations facing childcare capacity shortages. Business of Childcare builds daycare “homes” for communities, so those wanting to operate a daycare. “They call the child care house, which is a house that is built specifically for the purpose of having a child care inside of it that is outside of a person’s provider’s primary residence. And so the house is built on location over a short period of time,” said CHEDA’s Taylor Wyum. “It comes with all of the materials needed to open a licensed daycare in Minnesota. So that includes an open space for play, an infant room, bathroom, kitchen, washer and dryer, an outdoor play set, and everything that you would need inside the building, from cribs down to paints.”
Not only does Business of Childcare take care of the building, but they also help with the childcare operator selection. “It’s about as turnkey as you can get, considering you have to take care of the pre-development site prep beforehand. And then the Business of Childcare comes in, they construct this house, and then it’s ready to open,” said Wyum. “They help with operator selection through a transparent process. And so in about six months later, you have a childcare business ready to open.”
The cost is $288,000 for a unit, and the board decided they will look into it, but also see how much it would cost to do it themselves. “Our board has asked us to look into what it would cost for us to build four childcare facilities on our own versus working with Business of Childcare,” said Wyum. “So now it’s just going to be comparing some numbers.”
DOWNTOWN CROOKSTON BUILDING VACANCY
Wyum updated the CHEDA board on the downtown commercial property inventory, and she said that 14 percent of the buildings are vacant, seven percent are used for storage, and 21 percent are not technically being used. Wyum also noted that a lot of the businesses are by appointment only. “Something we hear a lot is that our downtown is empty or downtown is dying. So the board has asked that I put together this building inventory, and I think it is a little bit surprising what we found,” said Wyum. “The total combined percent of vacant and buildings that are used as storage downtown, and this is specifically commercial storefronts, not rental units, is 21 percent.”
The CHEDA Board is moving its September meeting to Tuesday, September 23 at 7:00 a.m.