By Eileen Bradway The Herald
FORT MILL-- A new child-care facility in Baxter Town Center that is expected to bring at least 50 jobs will break ground Friday, says one of the owners.

The Field of Dreams Nurture and Education Center is expected to open in the spring, said Rick Field of Tega Cay, who is opening the center with his wife, Gloria, and Walt and Daffony Bullard of Fort Mill. The center, to be located next to the new Weston YMCA, will be over 15,000 square feet and offer more than just child care.

Parents will be able to drop off and pick up their dry cleaning at the center along with their children, Rick Field said. They'll be able to purchase milk and bread to avoid a last-minute stop at the grocery store. And, for those interested in having dinner prepared for them, they can place an order in the morning and pick up a heat-and-eat meal later in the day.

Field said since the center already has a commercial kitchen, it made sense to extend its use to help harried parents.

"The whole idea there is just to save time for parents," Field said.

The center expects 250 children in its 6-weeks-to-5-years programs; children in the after-school program will be added later, Field said.

"When we're fully ramped up, we'll have over 300 (children)," Field said, adding the center has already started taking pre-registration applications.

The 50 staff positions will be a combination of management, administration and teaching jobs. The center's owners are working with York Technical College and Winthrop University and their career placement programs to hire staffers, he said. In addition to York and Winthrop, they have consulted with childhood education experts from the S.C. Department of Education and the University of South Carolina about their programs.

This is the first child-care center for any of the owners, all of whom have business-related backgrounds. Rick Field has worked in the software industry for 25 years, while Gloria Field has worked in the legal field, focusing on real estate. Daffony Bullard also has worked in the software industry, and Walt Bullard is in pharmaceutical sales.

The Fields, who have three children, and the Bullards, who have two children, will have offices at the site.

"We will be focusing on managing the business side, allowing our early childhood education experts to focus on the nurturing and education programs," Field said in an e-mail.

Baxter already is home to Beef O'Brady's, SweeTreats Ice Cream and Coffee, law offices, a cleaners and salon, among other businesses. The first house in Baxter was built in 1998.

By 2009, the development should be complete, with 1,325 homes and businesses and shops. The development also has an elementary school, public library and urgent care center.