Vail Valley Foundation expects to break ground on Avon child care center in July
Fundraising continues, and a contractor and operator have been selected for the center on town-owned land
Courtesy photo
A planned early childhood center in Avon is making progress and could start construction this summer.
At a Monday update to the Eagle County Board of Commissioners, representatives from the Vail Valley Foundation provided information about fundraising, center specifics and more.
Foundation CEO Mike Imhof noted that a $72 million “silent campaign” for child care and other purposes in its “Empowering Possibility” fundraising campaign has reached the 50% mark in that goal. Projects include arts and entertainment, “capitalizing on our ski racing legacy,” building community supports and “empowering possibility for youth and families.”
Part of that last project is a $13 million child care center in Avon. The land for that center is located on town-owned property in Avon’s Traer Creek area, roughly halfway between City Market and Walmart.
The town is providing the 3.5-acre parcel for the center on a 49-year lease, with a pair of 10-year extensions built into the contract. The proposed center, will sit on property once envisioned for a school site, but the Eagle County School District has agreed it won’t use the property.
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The center, which has passed muster with the Village at Avon’s design review board, will be roughly 13,000 square feet and can accommodate 165 children up to age 5.
Contractor, operator selected
Imhof said RA Nelson has been selected as the general contractor on the project after it was put out to bid. Groundbreaking is expected in July.
The center’s operation was put out to bid, and Jennifer Knott, founder and CEO of the Access Early Education Foundation, was selected as the operator.
Imhoff said that the firm operates centers in the Roaring Fork Valley, Glenwood Springs, Crested Butte and Grand Junction. Four of its five current operations are nonprofits.
Imhof said the foundation will ask Eagle County for about $1 million as part of its fundraising campaign for the center.
Noting that the board receives funding requests every year, Commissioner Jeanne McQueeney asked Imhof if the center would operate at a profit.
Imhof replied that the operator has a “model for sustainability,” and that Knott has stated that the center will operate at a profit once it’s fully operational.
Imhof added that the center will be operated as a nonprofit, and overseen by a board appointed by the Vail Valley Foundation.
That nonprofit will provide tuition and housing assistance for those with proven needs, Imhof said, with board member Steve Coyer adding, “It’s something we’re committed to.”
Employers will participate
Imhof noted that the center will have an employer-sponsored model, with employers buying spots at the center.
Commissioner Tom Boyd said the plan is a mix of several different strategies, with roughly 74 of the spots on the employer-based model.
Board member Johannes Faessler, owner of the Sonnenalp Hotel, said he’s a believer in public-private partnerships. Faessler’s firm in 2017 worked with the town of Vail to replace the 24-unit Solar Vail apartments with a 65-unit complex. That project was helped by the town of Vail purchasing $4.2 million in deed restrictions on the project.
Faessler said the Avon child care program is the “same idea,” with an initial investment from a local government.
Faessler said what excites him the most is that this model can be repeated, adding that he’s willing to sign up for 10 spots in the Avon center. And, he told the commissioners, while Imhof had asked for $1 million, “I think it needs to be $3 million.”
After hearing the presentation, Boyd, who previously worked for the Vail Valley Foundation before he was elected to his post with the county, said the current proposal has come “really, really far.”
