Kozy Kids Childcare Centre in Maylands closes after land acquisition for Magill-Portrush Rd intersection
Up to 230 families will be forced to look for a new childcare centre and 50 staff will be without a job as the State Government acquires a property for the Portrush Rd upgrade.
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Up to 50 staff at a Maylands childcare centre will lose their jobs with the site to be compulsory acquired to make way for a $98 million intersection upgrade.
Kozy Kids corporate director David Fitch said he had been recently contacted by the State Government about the acquisition of the Portrush Rd centre, which opened in 2017.
He said he expected the centre, which caters for around 230 families, would close sometime in the first half of 2020, but that the government had given no definite timeline.
“We are devastated,” Mr Fitch said.
“It is a bad outcome for all of us.
“Heartbreaking for the staff, the parents and their children.
“But what can you do? We have no control over the issue.”
The site will be razed as part of a federal and state government upgrade of the Magill and Portrush roads intersection to ease gridlock and improve safety.
As part of the works, there will be two right-hand turning lanes and three straight lanes in each direction on Portrush Rd and longer right-hand turning lanes on Magill Rd.
Mr Fitch said parents were told of the closure yesterday and were “pretty upset”.
He hoped to relocate the centre to another site in the Maylands area.
“It could be a refit or a rebuild,” he said.
“It could take a number of years.
“It’s not an easy thing to replicate.”
He hoped to minimise the impact of the centre’s closure on parents, children and staff.
“It is heartbreaking to know that, at some point in the near future, our centre will be closed and our staff and parents will need to go elsewhere,” Mr Fitch said.
“We know that the 50 staff and 230 families, including over 250 children that are part of the Kozy Kids Maylands family, will be affected, and we will do everything we can to assist them through this process.”
Sophie Theodoros, whose daughter Maya goes to the centre, said its closure would be a “massive loss” to the community.
“In that area it’s difficult to get into childcare,” Mrs Theodoros said.
“I’m unsure what to do about it. It makes it trickier to find a place.”
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A State Government spokesman said the land would be acquired to widen the intersection to reduce travel times for the 62,000 motorists who use the junction each day.
“We will continue to work with the community and property owners to provide as much detail as possible throughout this process to minimise disruption and inconvenience,” the spokesman said.
The upgrade of the intersection, which recorded 62 crashes between 2013 and 2017, is expected to be completed in 2023.