Day care center seeks space in Tysons office building

A child care company with hundreds of day care centers and preschools across the U.S. is seeking to add one in Tysons.

Primrose Schools has submitted an application for a special exception from Fairfax County that would allow it to open a day care center inside the office building at 1749 Old Meadow Road near Scotts Run.

The facility would support up to 193 kids a day — its proposed maximum capacity — from the “greater McLean area,” according to a statement of justification dated April 19. There would be up to 35 employees, including teachers and attendants, on site at a time.

The center will occupy 88,350 square feet in the existing building, but some new construction would be required for adjacent outdoor play areas, Carlos Montenegro, an attorney representing Primrose Schools Franchising Company, wrote.

The submitted plans show a two-floor facility with 12 classrooms and an approximately 4,300-square-foot play area, including separate playgrounds for infants and toddlers, early preschool attendees and preschool or after-school students.

Estimating that the center will draw 450 vehicles per day, mostly during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up periods, Primrose Schools is proposing to remove about 45 of the building’s 348 parking spaces, while re-striping five accessible spaces.

The changes would give the building a total of 316 parking spots.

“All children will be delivered and picked-up after parking on the property. There will be no vehicular cueing line,” Montenegro wrote.

Established by Paul and Marcy Erwin in 1982, Primrose Schools opened its first school in Marietta, Georgia, with a goal of centering education at a time “when ‘all-play’ is the accepted norm” for child care, according to its website.

The private company has since expanded to over 500 locations, including franchises in Chantilly and Reston.

One of Primrose’s Arlington locations came under scrutiny last year by Virginia’s Department of Social Services. An investigation found that the center had failed to report child abuse and mistreatment by employees who were fired shortly after the alleged incidents, according to NBC Washington.

County staff are currently reviewing the special exception application for a Tysons location to determine whether it should be formally accepted.

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