Former Grace Lutheran In Santa Maria To Be CommUnify’s Latest Head Start Preschool
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - CommUnify of Santa Barbara County and its Board of Directors are pleased to announce the acquisition of a property in Santa Maria which will house a future child care and early education campus.
The non-profit has provided Head Start across Santa Barbara County since 1967 and has purchased the former Grace Lutheran Preschool building at 420 East Fesler Street in Santa Maria with plans to renovate it.
This new child care and early education center will serve up to 70 local low-income children and their families.
It will be upgraded with four classrooms, a commercial kitchen, outdoor learning space, and two play yards.
Two classrooms will be specifically geared towards infants and toddlers (3-months to 2-years-old) and two classrooms will be focused on pre-K children (3-5-years-old) to get them ready for kindergarten.
CommUnify bought the vacant property from Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church of Santa Maria for $950,000 in a sale that closed on July 24th.
The Radius Group’s Golis Team represented CommUnify in the sale, and Pacifica Commercial Realty represented the seller.
The Grace Lutheran congregation built the site in 1949 and expanded it into a preschool by 1960.
They ran the Grace Lutheran Preschool there for decades before eventually closing the facility.
When the Church decided to sell the property to CommUnify, they also included necessary off-site parking for staff and for parent drop-off.
Without the generous cooperation of the Church, this project would not have been possible.
CommUnify is funding the project with a $1.3 million Infrastructure Grant Program award from the California Department of Social Services together with a loan from the Low-Income Investment Fund.
The work ahead is substantial and additional funds will be raised to complete the renovation.
The architect on the project is Gabriel Architects of Santa Maria.
CommUnify plans to reopen the East Fesler Street building as a child care and early education center and enroll children ages 3 months to five years.
The groundbreaking will take place in the coming months, and the center should open by Summer 2028 – just in time for the start of academic year 2028/2029.
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