Project name: Skylark Children’s Academy

Address: 301 NW Crosby Drive

General contractor: Empire Construction & Development LLC

Owners representative: Skylark Children’s Academy

Architect: Steele Associates Architects, LLC.

Cost of the project: Preferred not to say

Project details: The new preschool will have 10 classrooms in a 10,000-square-foot building with a 12,000-square-foot play yard. Virginia Goss, who has been building and running preschools in the San Francisco Bay Area for four decades and recently sold her three schools to a nationwide child care chain, bought the property from Bend real estate developer Brooks Resources Corp. last summer for an undisclosed amount. Its assessed value is $6 million, according to Deschutes County records. Goss will run the school with her daughter Erin Maigaard. Their motto: “Empowering little learners. Inspiring big leaders.”

Bend is in need of child care options after hundreds of spots were lost following the pandemic.

Goss said enrollment is underway, with some classes full. The goal is to have 150 students. Ages range from 1 to 5 years old.

“We were drawn to Bend, and the Discovery West neighborhood specifically because we were looking for a community that really had a need for a strong, high quality early childhood education program,” Maigaard said in an email. “There’s a lot of young families in this area and we want to provide a fun, educational program that not only meets their childcare needs but that really creates a foundation for Kindergarten readiness.”

The school’s playground will have play structures designed for different age groups, including platforms and slides of varying sizes, Goss said. It will also have a poured-in-place rubberized surface.

Goss said Empire Construction is set to get an occupancy permit by Aug. 22 and the school will open Sept. 9. Construction began in December 2023.