St. Philip’s in Bemidji Purchases Nearby Building for New Daycare Center and Parish Space

A new childcare option is coming to Bemidji.

St. Philip’s Church recently closed on the nearby 602 Beltrami Building and plans to repurpose it into a daycare center. But even with the recent acquisition of the building, steps need to be fulfilled before a new center can open.

St. Philip’s initially looked at buying the building for both school and parish space. However, when the organization Greater Bemidji came to them with a request of looking into adding a daycare center, their plans changed.

With this daycare center and Greater Bemidji’s forgivable loan program, St. Philip’s received $75,000 and will add three child care licenses to the one they already have. The licenses will allow the daycare center to care for infants up to school-aged children, with a maximum of 48 slots.

Although this will hardly put a dent in the nearly 1,000 open childcare slots in the Bemidji area, this acquisition is a step closer to closing that gap.

Those at St. Philip’s have already taken steps in assuring the building’s safety not only as a daycare center, but as extra room for the ever-growing parish. Now, all that remains is checking off the rest of the boxes to fully repurpose the building into a daycare center.

St. Philip’s does not have an opening date for the daycare center. When it is operational, the center will be open year-round.