The newly built, but empty daycare on Malaspina Avenue in College Heights will soon be occupied.
The City of Prince George announced that on April 24, council directed staff on to negotiate a 15-year lease agreement with the College Heights Community Association to operate the new Malaspina daycare under Kool Cats Kid Care.
The city said The development came after School District 57 declined to continue negotiations with the city the week before.
“We’ll be very happy to work with the College Heights Community Association to bring more much-needed childcare spaces to Prince George,” said Mayor Simon Yu. “The City and the Association have an excellent relationship cultivated over many years of successful partnerships. We’re glad they’ve stepped up to work with us to deliver these services to our residents.”
In December 2022, School District 57 was amenable to negotiations with the City to lease the newly-built childcare building at 8008 Malaspina Ave.
The city learned on April 20 from the school district that it had decided against pursuing the lease.
Acting school superintendent Pam Spooner said the lease agreement at Malaspina was not feasible for the district.
“This building is on city property and our obligations are to provide services to our buildings, property and the students who attend there. Our legal and risk management team advised against moving forward,” said Spooner.
She said SD57 is focusing on a successful grant funded through the provinces New Spaces Fund and its daycare development team has three more grant applications pending.
Since the Malaspina building has been sitting empty since its completion January, the city says staff and council are taking immediate action to ensure the daycare opens as soon as possible to provide the essential service to the community.
The Malaspina daycare is one of three facilities funded by the BC New Spaces Creation Fund and the Union of BC Municipalities Childcare Space Creation Fund.
Both sources provided nearly $12 million to the City of Prince George for use in developing a total of 228 new childcare spaces on three sites. The other two daycares are the YMCA Park House and Learning Centre on Sixth Avenue and Tsulh’cho/Huckleberry Daycare on Dagg Road in the Hart.
Once it opens, the Malaspina Daycare will feature 83 spaces.
