A new child care center in North Wheeling is ready for operation as soon as a director can be found to run it.

The North Wheeling Community Dream Center is still seeking an existing day care provider to move into its newly renovated space, and if that doesn’t happen soon they will look to hire an executive director.

“We did get one inquiry, and there is an appointment about that in June,” said Bishop Darrell Cummings of the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple.

The church had hoped to open its child care center by the end of summer.

“We are trying to do that,” Cummings said. “We are exploring all options.”

The space has been approved for use by up to 30 children, and occupies just one area in the basement of the 35,000-square-foot Dream Center. The building consists of four floors, and uses 10 furnaces.

The church’s hope is that the day care center will provide a revenue stream to the church to fix up and rent other areas at the Dream Center.

The building has its positives for use as a child care center. The first is that parents bringing children to the Dream Center will be able to drive to the access road behind the building, stop at the future child care center’s door, then take them directly inside or pick them up at the end of the day.

Cummings said the church has spent $500,000 to renovate the Dream Center.

A prior failure of the sprinkler system in the building sent water through the structure, resulting in a $250,000 clean-up. The church next installed a new sprinkler system at a cost of $125,000, but it wasn’t compatible with the existing sprinkler alarm. The new alarm added another $24,000 to the price tag, according to Cummings.

Then there was the buildout in the basement for the child care center. The entry was enlarged to make it more secure, he continued. The interior exit space from the child care area also was closed off so children couldn’t wander into the rest of the building.

Plumbing was improved, and the space was made handicap accessible.

The Dream Center received $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act dollars from the City of Wheeling for the project. In addition, the Ohio County Commission last year directed $180,000 in ARPA funds to the Dream Center to help pay for replacement of the six roof sections on the building.