The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is lending funding aid to the Springfield and Nixa school districts to purchase early childhood centers from developer Jared Enterprises Inc.
The Springfield Public Schools Board of Education voted June 7 to buy the Shining Stars Early Childhood Center, 2525 W. College St.
SPS spokeswoman Pam Bodine said the board’s vote means it would buy the 32,749-square-foot former grocery store for $4.1 million, of which DESE would cover $3.3 million. SPS will lease to own until the contract ends in 2018, she said.
Jared Enterprises renovated the former Price Cutter to the tune of $2.4 million and began leasing it to SPS in early 2011, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
Bodine said the move represents a change by DESE.
“They had a program where DESE would provide funds to districts if you were leasing them but not if the district built them,” she said.
Jared Enterprises owns the building through 2525 W College LLC. It has an appraised value of $5.8 million, but Jared Enterprises agreed to sell it at a lower price as a charitable contribution, according to a district news release.
The purchase would save SPS nearly $700,000 a year in lease payments on the building that opened in January 2011, Bodine said.
SPS also plans to close its Bright Stars Early Childhood Center at 3447 West Farm Road 168. That building, which opened in 2013, is leased from Jared Properties LLC, Bodine said. The district pays $150,000 a year for the 3,000-square-foot space, which will be consolidated into Shining Stars and early childhood classrooms in other schools.
Jared Enterprises also will be paid back for the Nixa Early Childhood Center he owns.
DESE reached a deal to pay about $5 million over a five-year period to give Nixa Public Schools ownership, according to the
Springfield News-Leader, which also first reported the SPS plans.
Jared Enterprises built the 23,000-square-food center, 304 S. Little Eagle Drive, in 2014 at a cost of $2.4 million. At the time, the Nixa district and DESE entered into a lease agreement for $72,900 a month, according to
SBJ archives.
Nixa Public Schools Superintendent Stephen Kleinsmith and spokesman Zac Rantz could not be reached for comment by deadline.
