Some grant money may be made available, but the community center still needs to find a way to pay arrears.
By RON MATUS
Published June 27, 2003
Palmetto Beach's primary day care center is in danger of being shut down after falling nearly two years behind in rent.
The Palmetto Beach Community Child Care Center, which is operated by the Palmetto Beach Community Association, leases a portable building at 2014 Davis St. from GE Modular Space, a division of General Electric Co.
GE notified the day care in writing last week of "pending action" resulting from $42,000 of unpaid rent, said Patrick Brennan, a spokesman for GE Modular Space in Devon, Pa.
"We've been patient for a quite a while," he said.
He declined to specify what action may be taken but said repossession was an option. He would not give a deadline.
"I wouldn't frame it as the end stages," Brennan said. But, "it's at the point where we need to see something definitive in writing."
The neighborhood association hopes to get help from the city.
The center serves 40 to 60 children between 6 weeks old and school age, most of them the sons and daughters of Palmetto Beach's working-class residents. It began seven or eight years ago thanks to a grant from the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, said Vince Ficarrotta, president of the community association. "For the first five years, money came in like clockwork," he said.
But when the grant dried up, others couldn't be found to replace it, he said. The center now relies on revenue from enrollment, which ranges from $85 to $125 a week per child for full-time care.
The center continues to meet payroll, Ficarrotta said. But back rent - $1,950 a month - is adding up.
Last year, city officials awarded the neighborhood a $90,000 grant so it could buy and renovate another building to house the center - a project that could cost more than $300,000, Ficarrotta said.
The neighborhood association decided to scrap that idea, however, given the center's cash-flow problems.
Now, the association is asking the city to let it use the grant money to buy the existing building and pay off the debt.
City officials were expected to visit the site this week to evaluate the building and the day care operation.
"I'm not excitedly confident, but I'm encouraged," said Ficarrotta, who became president in February and has two children enrolled at the center.
Using the grant money to buy the existing building is "possible within the rules and regulations," said David Snyder, assistant manager for the city's division of housing and community development.
But the money can't be used to pay back rent, he said.
The 2,600-square-foot building is worth $67,000, according to county property records.
GE will consider selling the building, but doing so won't address the debt issue, Brennan said. He said the company has tried working with the neighborhood association.
"We recognized early on the special nature of the building's use," he said. But $42,000 "shows the level of patience we've had."
Ficarrotta is keeping his fingers crossed that the center will stay open. Without it, he fears many parents won't have anywhere to send their children.
