The Learning Experience, a national child care company, is looking to expand into Franconia.
Franchisee Manoj Gandhi has filed a special exception application with Fairfax County seeking to build a 10,000-square-foot child care center on undeveloped land at 7715 Beulah Street.
The 1.65-acre lot is adjacent to the Franconia Moose Lodge and across the street from Island Creek Elementary School. It’s currently unoccupied but was purchased in April 2008 for an approved, 11,076-square-foot Veterans of Foreign Wars post that ultimately never got built.
Though the property where Gandhi plans to build the childcare center is zoned for residential use, he’s able to apply for a special exception permit because a center falls under the category of “public, institutional and community uses,” which provide a local service to the immediate community, according to the May 10 application.
In the application, Gandhi and his legal representative, David Houston, state that the center’s exterior will adhere to the neighborhood’s local character.
“Overall, [it]…is in keeping with the character of the area and conforms to the recommendations and policy guidelines,” the application reads. “The proposed childcare center will complement surrounding uses and will be an asset to nearby neighborhoods.”
Gandhi is The Learning Experience’s largest franchisee with more than 25 centers across Virginia, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, Michigan and Texas, his application says.
Founded in 2002, The Learning Experience provides early education and day care services for kids in infancy through kindergarten. According to the company’s website, its only Fairfax County location so far is in Chantilly, but additional franchises are “coming soon” to Fairfax City and the Mount Vernon area.
Plans for the Franconia center, which will support 180 children, show a single-story, 10,000-square-foot building with a 5,000-square-foot playground area. The building will be 24 feet in height and have a “residential-style appearance,” according to the application.
Gandhi has proposed to provide 30 parking spaces and a bicycle rack. The center would operate between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Image via Google Maps
