Families in Portage will soon have a new child care option, as Stepping Stones Early Learning Center gets ready to open its doors this fall. While focusing on educational services, Stepping Stones is also licensed to care for 188 children – which will make it the largest child care center in Portage.
To turn the vision for Stepping Stones into reality, its leadership team turned to Chester Inc. to help them acquire and renovate a facility that could serve as a safe, secure, and productive place for children to grow and learn. Chester operates under a design/build philosophy, meaning that it works with business owners from the start of the project to its conclusion – handling architecture, financing, regulations and building permits, construction, and more.
“When our owner was working with her realtor, she decided to work with Chester as well,” said Courtney Walters, director of Stepping Stones Early Learning Center. “She wanted to be sure the building she bought would be suitable for what Stepping Stones needed. They helped eliminate some options with their expertise.”
After decades of doing business in the Region, there are few types of projects and buildings that are new to Chester. Tony Peuquet, co-owner of the company, understood that a childhood care center would come with a set of diverse challenges as they worked to meet the complex circumstances surrounding the field.
“Every childcare facility is unique and complicated,” he said. “The rules and regulations are forever changing, and there’s a need to incorporate interesting designs with durable and safe materials to help nurture a fun and safe environment for the instructors and children.”
Chester worked closely with Stepping Stones to navigate those intricacies as well as to meet their more individualized wants and desires. The design/build philosophy means Chester is a one-stop-shop, and its clients can rely on them as one single, stable point of contact.
“They’ve worked very closely with us and answered all of our questions,” Walters said. “They’re responsive, be it email, phone, or text”
Peuquet praised Stepping Stones for its creative vision and commitment to providing a safe and creative environment for children to learn
“The owner is a wonderful, experienced entrepreneur that has a great knowledge in her field of childcare and child development,” he said. “She has surrounded herself with strong, intelligent partners who have helped put together a strong business and well thought out childcare facility.”
The team worked together to create a facility that utilized all of the latest innovations in technology.
“Not only are the buildings focused on material safety, the level of technology also included in new builds is a major piece of the workflow in design-build projects,” he said. “There’s so much thought that goes into how kids will interact within these spaces, and you get to see the thoughts turned into reality in a very short time.”
Walters noted that Stepping Stones’ programming is designed to maximize the facility and prepare children for school thanks to a quality curriculum.
“We’ll be utilizing a creative curriculum,” she said. “It’s a research-based curriculum for children aged infants through school age. It’s divided into different milestones based on the child’s age, and every classroom has daily schedules and lesson plans to follow.”
Walters and the Stepping Stones team are targeting November for the ribbon cutting.
“Seeing everything come together is really neat,” she said. “It’s like watching the plan come to life. Everyone with Chester’s been so helpful in explaining the different processes to us.”
Stepping Stones is still looking for members to join its team. More information is available at Facebook.com/SteppingStonesEarlyCenter.
To learn more about Chester Inc., visit chesterinc.com.
