AUBURN - Toddle Inn Child Care Center founder Cheryl Carrier never considered opening in Auburn - until she heard from the parents.

"They really did the work and convinced us that we were needed up here, after all," she said.

Carrier officially kicked off construction of her sixth Maine child care center Friday on Merrow Road. The center, complete with a full gymnasium, a swimming pool and space for 220 children, is set to open later this summer.

The 10,200-square-foot facility is a far cry from the current space on Mount Auburn Avenue, Carrier said.

"From the first day, we knew we were going to have to build a bigger space," she said.

She wasn't considering opening an Auburn branch of her popular southern Maine child care center back in December 2005. That was before Auburn's Smart Start Child Care, on Mount Auburn Avenue, abruptly closed its doors. Parents of children who attended that program were having a difficult time finding a replacement.

"We kind of looked the other way, for a while," Carrier said. "But the city was in a bind, and it was the parents that got our attention."

Parents, including Roland Davis and Joline Leclerc, began hunting for a replacement service.

"We even thought about starting a center ourselves," Davis said. "We even went on television to get someone's attention with a desperate cry for help."

Their appeals finally got to Carrier.

"I wasn't even in Maine, but I sent a couple people up to look at the site and see what we could do," she said.

Toddle Inn opened on Mount Auburn Avenue just after Christmas 2005, with 4,400 square feet. Carrier said plans to build the replacement were already under way.

"There is a critical need for this kind of service, and we just outgrew that space right away," she said. The current space has 85 children enrolled, from infants to 10-year-olds. They have another 30 names on a waiting list.