KAI recently joined the community in celebrating the official completion of Urban Sprouts Child Development Center’s new retail café, support office building and outdoor learning space in University City, Missouri. KAI served as construction manager at risk (CMAR) and provided MEP design-build management on the $2.3 million adaptive reuse project.
Located at 6757 Olive Boulevard, Urban Sprouts currently serves 120 children ages 6 weeks to 6 years and is one of the only child care operators in the St. Louis area to utilize the Reggio Emilia educational approach, which emphasizes child-guided learning and exploration. The growing nonprofit organization was founded in 2009 by educator and advocate Ellicia Lanier, who wanted to bring quality, affordable child care to an underserved community.
With a waiting list of more than 450 families, Urban Sprouts responded to community demand for child care in 2024 by renovating its existing 14,200-square-foot building and constructing a connecting addition to an existing adjacent building, which was renovated to include new classrooms, art space, program and administrative areas, and an outdoor play piazza to accommodate 60 children ages 3 to 5. KAI also served as the general contractor on that project.
The newest 4,437-square-foot expansion includes the adaptive reuse of a former gas station on an adjoining lot into a retail café, Café O’ Play, as well as the renovation of a second vacant building for support offices. The renovated buildings are connected to the original campus by two parcels of land that KAI transformed into an outdoor experiential learning space with tiered seating and a play area that takes advantage of the site’s natural slope and provides children with a hands-on environment for learning.
The campus addition is intended to increase access to wraparound family services and food abundance resources for children, families, educators and community members. Café O’ Play will operate as a specialty coffee shop and café during the day. In the afternoons and evenings, the space will offer support programs such as after-school tutoring and meal access for children and families in the community.
“Urban Sprouts is creating opportunities that extend far beyond the walls of a child development center,” said Michael B. Kennedy, CEO of KAI. “What makes this project especially meaningful is the way Urban Sprouts is thinking beyond the traditional boundaries of child care and creating a place that serves entire families and the broader community. We are proud to continue our partnership with Urban Sprouts and help create spaces that support children and families while strengthening the surrounding community.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the project’s completion was held Aug. 27 and attended by a large group of supporters, parents, children and University City officials. The Urban Sprouts campus now includes three buildings, two outdoor playgrounds and parking.
“Before we cut this ribbon, I want to take a moment to look around this space and really take in what it represents. There is no version of this day that happens because of one person, one gift, one organization or one idea. This is what happens when things become possible, when a community decides that children and families deserve something extraordinary and rolls up its sleeves to do it,” said Urban Sprouts Founder Ellicia Lanier.
IFF served as the owner’s representative on the project, with JEMA serving as the architect.