Groundbreaking set for Parc’s new children’s center
Seventy-one years after opening its arms to Pinellas Country’s developmentally disabled community, St. Petersburg’s Parc Center for Disabilities continues to adapt and improve, providing educational and life-enhancing opportunities for children and adults.
And the work, it seems, is never done. Tuesday at 10 a.m., there will be a groundbreaking ceremony at the six-acre Parc campus, 3190 Tyrone Blvd., on a 14,000-square-foot Children’s Services Center.
This will be the new, state-of-the-art home for the Discovery Learning Center preschool, Family Focus Early Intervention Services and Caregiver Relief Services. Parc daily serves more than 539 children and adults, and employs over 320 people.
“This is a transformational time for Parc Center for Disabilities,” said President and CEO Michele Detweiler. “And for our community. And our region, really.
“The new Children’s Services Center moves us into our next 70 years; it’s going to match the caliber and the quality of Parc’s programs and personnel across the board.”
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The $10 million building will be erected on the 2.5 acres facing Tyrone – the original site of the organization’s administration building, which was demolished in December 2023. The offices have relocated to other areas of the campus.
The current, 61-year-old children’s services facility, Detweiler said, “is holding Parc and the children in our community back. And excluding some children who would benefit from our expertise.” When the old building is no longer needed, it will likely be torn down to create additional greenspace.
She explained that the new center will include larger classroom and therapy spaces, three specifically-designed playgrounds with adaptive equipment (“allowing children to learn through play, just as their typically-developing peers do”), and safety and security improvements that couldn’t be installed because of the limitations of the 1960s building.
From left: Parc board chair Michael Bice, President and CEO Michelle Detweiler, Tom James,
Mary James. Photo provided.
In April, philanthropists Tom and Mary James gave Parc $2 million towards construction of the new Children’s Services Center – a record donation for the nonprofit. Approximately $6.5 million is now in the bank.
Detweiler said Parc has secured financing from Bank of Tampa, “just in case” they don’t raise the full $10 million in time.
“This is probably going to take 18 months to build,” she explained, “and my anticipation is we will make our goal. We are still working with several donors on significant gifts, and we really haven’t gone public, per se.”
