Corporate Childcare Provider Vivvi Plans First Preschool at One Hudson Square
By Rebecca Baird-Remba April 3, 2019 5:44 pm
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Corporate preschool operator Vivvi is opening its first campus in Hudson Square this summer, Commercial Observer can first report.
The provider of employer-sponsored childcare has rented 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space at Trinity Real Estate’s 75 Varick Street, also known as One Hudson Square, according to a press release from the company. Asking rent in the 12-year lease wasn’t disclosed. The preschool will open in June.
Vivvi’s new space will accommodate 90 students ranging in age from 6 weeks to 5 years old. It will include a private mother’s room that nursing moms can reserve in advance using an app, two large multipurpose play and exercise rooms, and classrooms featuring separate learning centers geared toward math, reading, imaginative play and science. There will even be a mobile cooking kitchen on a cart that can be rolled between classrooms to teach kids about nutrition and chemistry. The storefront also comes with a private entrance on Canal Street for parents, children and guardians. Carol Gretter of Eleven of Eleven Architecture designed the school, which has 20-foot ceilings, large windows and a layout that allows natural light to reach the interior rooms.
“Our curriculum informed the design of the space,” explained Charles Bonello, Vivvi’s co-founder and CEO. “We developed our own inquiry-based curriculum where they’re able to find their own answers to questions they have. Teachers [try to focus on] whatever kids are interested in right now. Let’s say it’s transportation—they’re reading books about cars, building cars out of blocks, or baking car cookies.”
Vivvi claims it can “allow companies of all sizes to implement both full-time and backup care programs for their employees at a fraction of the cost of traditional employer-sponsored models.” The educational firm also plans to reserve 25 percent of its admissions for families in the community who aren’t affiliated with their corporate partners, which they have not yet announced. Tuition at the school will range from roughly $2,000 to $2,500 a month for parents who are enrolling through their employers and $2,900 to $3,600 a month for parents from the neighborhood. The company will offer its services Mondays through Fridays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
CBRE (CBRE)’s Jared London represented Vivvi in the deal, and Tungsten Properties’ Frank Reiser handled the transaction for the landlord. London declined to comment via a spokeswoman, and Reiser didn’t return a request for comment.
Other recent deals in the building include an expansion for mail-order razor delivery service Harry’s and a new 78,000-square-foot headquarters for Oscar Health.
