Youth therapy center starts construction at former Sleepy Poet location
Work has begun to transition one of downtown Gastonia's larger spaces from a retail spot to a child development center.
Compleat KiDZ will occupy the storefront where the Sleepy Poet store once sold antiques out of the historic S.H. Kress Five and Dime Building on West Main Avenue.
The center has completed demolition work on the 36,000-square-foot building and renovation work should start in early February, said Bob Fremgen, marketing director for Compleat KiDZ.
“As an outpatient center, we really don’t have too much construction to do on the inside,” said Fremgen.
Compleat KiDZ provides different forms of therapy to help children with learning disorders and developmental delays, including motor function, cognitive, social skills, speech and language.
The center will have many open spaces, cubby and play areas, offices, tables and pods for the young patients to meet with their therapists, Fremgen said.
The building includes four floors of about 10,000 square feet each. The basement and the main ground level units will mostly serve as therapy and play areas.
A mezzanine will be built with a crosswalk between the ground level and second floor which gives employees another angle to observe patients.
“The directors will be moving around on the floor with the patients and therapists too but this is just a nice feature to add with all the space we have available,” said Fremgen.
The second floor will include a lounge space, kitchen area and restrooms. The third floor will have administrative offices for employees and rooms for training new employees.
“It can be tricky trying to balance efficiency and keeping the building’s history but the history is important,” said the project architect Jerry McGinnis, who has completed architectural projects across Gaston County, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.
The project will maintain the building’s Kress Building sign, original staircases, wood flooring in the elevators, large air ducts and more.
“The interior stairs still have nice 50s finishing styles like nice wooden and brass railings,” said McGinnis.
McGinnis says that the main changes require replacing the freight elevator with a passenger elevator, installing another staircase from the second to the third floor, creating the mezzanine, installing toilets and sinks and creating offices.
“Our CEO thinks that these older buildings are going away and he wants to help protect them,” said Fremgen.
The former S.H. Kress Five and Dime Building was built in 1956.
Fremgen says the space will allow Compleat KiDZ to bring in more than 200 jobs to Gastonia's downtown.
The youth therapy center wants to hire locally and invites local residents to apply.
The pediatric therapy center, along with its adult rehabilitation center located at 2765 Court Drive, has been in business since 2007.
Fremgen and McGinnis expect construction to finish up in May and have the therapy and play areas open and running soon afterward.
Compleat KiDZ hopes to include another business in the future at this location, such as a coffee shop where adults with developmental disabilities can work.
When the Sleepy Poet opened in October 2016 it was seen as a significant win for downtown business. Some downtown business owners say the child counseling center can also help by bringing hundreds of people downtown for work and treatments.
Reach Janiya Winchester at 704-869-1842 or jwinchester@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Downtown Gastonia sees another transition with youth therapy center
