By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Smart Start Child Care staff members and parents may have been saved by a last-minute deal that puts another day-care center in the old Smart Start building.

Toddle Inn, a Southern Maine child-care corporation known for its distinctive facilities and comprehensive programs, has agreed to lease the Mount Auburn Avenue building for 18 months. It is scheduled to open Dec. 27.

“We weren’t planning to open a new facility. But our business is families. Our business is children. We’re going to make it happen,” said Kristin Taylor, chief operating officer for Toddle Inn.

Smart Start opened in 1989. It leased the Mount Auburn Avenue building from the Auburn School System. Jaime Bolduc bought the center several years ago.

On Dec. 2, she announced Smart Start’s closure. She gave parents and staff members two weeks notice.

Many people spent those weeks in a frantic search for care, only to find that few centers accepted infants and toddlers and those that did had waiting lists. Some staff and parents tried to find a place to open a center of their own, but no space met state requirements.

Toddle Inn officials said they began receiving calls from Lewiston-Auburn employers and community members who wanted them to open a center in the area.

But officials already had their hands full with five centers, including a new one in Saco. And they had recently finished the paperwork necessary to become franchised.

“I kind of looked the other way and prayed somebody else would do it,” said Toddle Inn owner Cheryl Carrier.

When it became apparent that no one else was going to step forward, Carrier said, she contacted Auburn.

“I just felt really guilty,” she said.

Three day-care centers called the school system’s business manager, Jude Cyr. He said Toddle Inn was willing to move fast and open a center with minimal delays.

“For us it was a major factor,” he said. “We felt bad that parents and kids were being displaced in such short notice.”

Toddle Inn agreed Thursday night to lease the building for 18 months, paying a little more than $45,000 a year for the 4,400-square-foot space, according to Cyr. The Auburn School System will clean and repair the space. Toddle Inn will install cabinets and make any other changes it feels are necessary.

The building is for sale. But under the lease agreement, new owners would be required to stick to the 18-month lease and keep the rent stable, Carrier said.

Smart Start closed early Friday because of the weather. Movers started emptying the building as children and caregivers were saying good-bye, parents said.

Some parents and staff had heard about the Toddle Inn agreement Friday morning. Many weren’t sure whether it was time to celebrate or not.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Roland Davis, who searched for two weeks for care for his 3-year-old daughter and infant son. “I want to believe this is going to work.”

Many parents said they’d love to enroll their children at the new Toddle Inn as long as the former Smart Start caregivers were there.

“I think all the families would jump at the opportunity if they kept the staff,” said Heidi Chirayath, whose preschooler attended Smart Start for three years.

Toddle Inn officials said they have not tried to contact parents or staff because Smart Start was still officially open until Friday morning and because they have no list of names.

Officials said they’d love to hire Smart Start’s former staff members if possible.

“That would be ideal,” Taylor said.

Toddle Inn officials will meet with prospective employees Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the old Smart Start building. They will meet with parents Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the same site.

Toddle Inn will keep Smart Start’s day-care rates for about a month, until officials can figure out proper rates. The center will accept infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school age children.

If it works out, Toddle Inn officials hope to set up their own permanent building after their lease at the Mount Auburn Avenue building runs out.