Generations Child & Elder Care opens in Clinton Square Building downtown

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As workplaces reopen following the pandemic, childcare again is at the top of workers’ minds. By some counts, 20,000 childcare centers closed nationwide since the start of the pandemic and one in nine childcare worker jobs have been lost.

But one center, which opened its doors on Sept. 21, is hoping to change that. Generations Child & Elder Care has opened a space in the Clinton Square Building at South Clinton and Broad Streets downtown. The roughly 9,000-square-foot space is licensed for 144 children and will employ some 30 people.

The new facility was some time in the making, said Generations President Bridget Shumway, who worked steadfastly with Jeffrey Leenhouts, vice president of business development for Home Leasing to find the appropriate space and location.

“A couple years ago I was looking for space for a program in the northwest area of the city,” Shumway recalled. “I knew Jeff through a family contact so I reached out to him just to see if they had anything that might work for me.

“They didn’t, but then a few months later he got in touch and said, ‘We’ve got a little space at Clinton Square, would you be interested in doing a program there?’ I said, ‘I’ll come look at it.’ It wasn’t a lot of space. It was maybe 3,000 square feet, if that, and that just doesn’t work for the model we have at Generations.”

But Leenhouts wanted to help Shumway, so he was able to free up more space on the first floor of the building. That freed up another 3,000 square feet of space, which Shumway said she could work with. But shortly thereafter, more space became available, enabling Shumway to build out her dream location.

“I was trying to get my head around what her needs are and also the pricing that would work. She’s leasing at quite a bit of a discount than we normally do,” Leenhouts acknowledged. “The process changed a little bit with COVID. She was going to utilize half the space, but then based on the numbers she ended up taking the whole space, which is great.”

When the pandemic hit, Shumway paused for a bit, she said, because COVID-19 had sent many of the downtown workers home. But she also was eager to use the unique space that was offered to her. From the beginning, Shumway, who opened her first Generations nearly three decades ago, had seen the Clinton Square location as one that would be highly desirable to people who work downtown, both in and around the building.

“A lot of the children whose parents were teachers or lawyers or architects, they withdrew children (from child care) and went home and worked from home. I was nervous about that,” Shumway said. “Then we started getting vaccinated and things started opening up. And last February or so, Jeff and I got together and said let’s do this project.”

Shumway enlisted CP Kelly and Associates LLC as her contractor and the project got underway.

“Then (Rochester) city school came along. They weren’t in our original equation, but I think sometime around June they were looking for some additional classroom space and once we had that conversation we said we’ve got to get this thing open by September,” Shumway said. “It’s been a whirlwind.”

The new facility serves school-aged children, and also offers Universal Pre-K and Expanded Pre-K classrooms in partnership with Rochester City School District. It features a colorful interior, as well as access to a courtyard for the children.

“What’s really great about this space is we have two inside gyms, plus we have use of this beautiful courtyard outdoors for the kids, and we’re doing some fun things there with more natural play equipment that works within the trees,” Shumway said. “The space internally was enough for us to have a gym for the older kids and a gym for the younger kids. And I’m really excited about being able to provide that kind of amenity within the program space.”

Leenhouts also looks at the childcare center as an amenity, both for tenants of Clinton Square and others who work downtown.

“There are people working for us that maybe they live in Fairport, they drop their kids off for daycare in Victor and then they drive to the city to work, so the proximity will be terrific. Well overdue,” he said. “There’s a lot of action going on around us and I don’t think demand will be an issue, in my opinion. But it will be interesting with buses dropping off in front of the building.”

Although there is other child care available downtown, Shumway said she is filling a gap with the new center. Leenhouts agreed.

“The fun part of the story is the idea of really thinking outside the box and taking this professional building that’s been financial advisers, accountants and attorneys and throwing a daycare with kids in there, which I think is wonderful,” Leenhouts said. “Generations is a great business with a number of locations. I don’t know if it would have worked with any other daycare provider. We think it will be an amenity that will drive occupancy and keep our tenants happy.”

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