High Profile recently covered the groundbreaking ceremony for CCC's new site at 250 Old Bedford Road

Concord, MA – Local early childhood care and education provider Concord Children’s Center (CCC) this summer took another step toward realizing its vision of moving to a two-site model to most effectively and efficiently serve Concord and the surrounding towns. In July, CCC signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Bowdoin Construction of Needham to construct a new facility at 250 Old Bedford Road in Concord. Bowdoin joins the project team of D.W. Arthur (architect), Omni Properties (Project Manager), Lemon|Brooke (landscape architects) and Stamski and McNarey (engineers). The project is expected to break ground in mid-September. 

The new site is part of a broader strategic initiative, CCC Reimagined, to restructure CCC from a three-site model to a two-site to best and most efficiently serve its children and families. This restructuring involves retaining CCC’s site in West Concord at 1300 Main Street, building a second site that is also owned by CCC on the east side of Concord at 250 Old Bedford Road; and departing CCC’s Emerson and Ripley sites. 

“The Bowdoin Construction team brings the experience and skills to realize the vision of CCC Reimagined,” said Pat Nelson, Executive Director at Concord Children’s Center. “This new site will be great for the Concord community and a terrific resource for working families and young growing minds. I’m thrilled to have Bowdoin join our effort to make it a reality.” 

Founded in 1973, Bowdoin Construction has established itself as a leader in the industry providing pre-construction planning, construction management and general contracting services throughout New England. Bowdoin has a background managing childcare/school campus expansion projects for non-profit entities who provide educational services for children, as well as independent schools, private special needs schools, and colleges and universities. 

“We are thrilled to join CCC’s team to build a new site for families and children,” said Andrew Buckman, President at Bowdoin Construction. “We are focused on quality and are committed to delivering the best overall value to our customers. We look forward to bringing our expertise to Concord Children’s Center.”

Concord Children’s Center (CCC) is an accredited, nonprofit school committed to the development and early education of young children from the age of 10 weeks through pre-kindergarten. Working together with families, CCC helps nurture engaged, lifelong learners by creating an environment that celebrates a child’s inquisitive nature, encourages exploration and play, fosters confidence in each child’s individual gifts, and guides children in building strong, respectful relationships.

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On May 6, we received our construction documents for our new site at 250 Old Bedford Road, including complete building plans, from the project architect D.W. Arthur architects and project engineers Stamski and McNary. Having our construction documents means that we have been able to start soliciting construction bids and have issued RFPs for the project to four area contractors. June 30 is the deadline for submitting proposals. We intend to start construction on our new site by the end of the summer and start the 23-24 school year in our new two-site structure, with sites at 1300 Main Street and 250 Old Bedford Road.

The 20-day appeal period for the Town of Concord's approval of CCC's application to convert 250 Old Bedford Road into a childcare center ended on September 15 with no appeals, so the project is now fully approved. CCC has done the necessary preparations to begin working immediately with project architects D.W. Arthur on construction drawings and with project manager Omni Properties on developing the RFP for a contractor. Construction is anticipated to start by late 2021/early 2022. Enrollment for 2022-2023 will be based on CCC's current three-site configuration.

The Concord Planning Board approved CCC's site plan application for 250 Old Bedford Road at its August 24 meeting. There is now a 20-day appeal period after which point the approval will be final. 

The Town of Concord Planning Board will conduct a site plan review of CCC's plans to renovate and add an addition to 250 Old Bedford Road at its May 4th meeting. This is the culmination of almost a year of site and concept planning by CCC's team of professionals, led by our Project Manager John Amaral of Omni Properties and including Stamski McNary Engineering, DW Arthur Architects, Bayside Engineering (traffic engineers), and Lemon Brooke (landscape design). All interested people are welcome to attend the May 4th meeting, which will be held over Zoom.  

CCC's restructuring to a two-site model to better serve its families and staff is the focus of an article in the March 5 Concord Journal. 

The CCC Building Committee has selected D.W. Arthur of Lincoln as the design team for Phase 1 of the project. D.W. Arthur is a leader in the design of early childhood centers throughout the U.S. and abroad. 

Concord Children's Center is now the owner of 250 Old Bedford Road -- read the update. 

As part of the plan to restructure Concord Children's Center into a two-site model, the Center has signed a purchase and sale agreement for the property at 250 Old Bedford Road which will become the school's second site. Read the update.