All Around Children celebrated the grand opening of its newest child daycare facility in Middlefield Village May 8, giving new life to an old structure.
All Around Children celebrated the grand opening of its newest child daycare facility in Middlefield Village May 8, giving new life to an old structure.
With seven other centers in the greater Cleveland area, AAC purchased the former Cardinal Schools building on East High Street when the district started consolidating into two buildings.
Last year, the family-owned business began renovating the landmark structure that includes a full gym.
AAC founder Munna Agarwal said in an interview May 7 the central location of the building made it an ideal spot for working parents to drop off and pick up their children all year around.
Middlefield had been on the AAC radar for some time.
“Putting up a new building would have been easier, but it made sense to repurpose this one. It serves the community better to repurpose it,” said Munna’s son, Hersh Agarwal.
Its proximity to the district’s elementary school and convenience for the local and commuting workforce made the spacious school a good choice, he said.
Renovating it to fit AAC’s purpose was more complicated, but considerably less expensive than building a new center, Munna said.
AAC provides childcare for infants and toddlers, and instruction for those in pre-school and pre-kindergarten, as well as before and after school care for children up to 12 years old, Munna said.
The classroom educators are qualified through the state’s Child Development Program and receive ongoing training and credentialing support, he said, adding staff is on site from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays.
Hersh said the mid-sized business has grown to meet demand with his mother, Archana, handling human resources and his sister, Divya, involved in daily operations.
The Middlefield center is administered by Ashley Dean and has 12 employees. Munna said he is hiring and will need 30 employees when the facility is fully enrolled.
Candidates for employment must have a high school diploma to meet CDP requirements, he said.
“We expect to grow with demand,” he added.
AAC has larger centers in Cleveland, Stow, Strongsville, Canton and Bedford Heights, where a new administration building was erected, Munna said.
Overall, ACC has about 200 employees and it is growing, and a new center in Collinwood is due to open in August, he said.
“We expect to hire 200 more next year,” Munna said, noting the Strongsville AAC, which has 250 children enrolled, has a waiting list of parents wanting to sign up their children.
AAC did not spring into being overnight.
Hersh said his father was doing cancer research at Case Western Reserve University and involved in building homes in the Solon area when the Recession began in 2008. When the dust settled, his parents owned a childcare center.
“They took over the business and learned from scratch,” he said, adding the couple did everything from marketing to hiring to emptying the trash, but the center made money.
“We went from 23 to 117 children in one year,” Munna said. “It made us more financially viable and opened more doors.”
He credited long-time associate Dennis Pfinniger, of Burton, with overseeing the renovation of the school.
“He found me this building,” Munna said. “Dennis has been with me for 26 years.”
AAC has moved the operation from the former Parkman Elementary School to Middlefield because they anticipate needing more space and because the location was out of the way for most commuters.
“We need to be convenient. Parents don’t want to drive 20 minutes out of the way,” Hersh said.
Middlefield Mayor Ben Garlich welcomed AAC during the ribbon cutting.
“The building they purchased is a prominent building in our village,” he said in a follow-up text. “You often see these buildings left vacant and go into disrepair and become a liability for the community. We are fortunate. Not only is the building not falling into that category, but, instead, has had value added, not only physically, but by providing a service that also brings value to our residents and employers.”
More information on AAC is available at www.allaroundchildren.com.
