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Former Sleepy Poet location becomes youth therapy center

Gaston Gazette - 5/19/2021

A child development center for kids born with developmental disabilities will move into a historical downtown building that dominates a section of Main Avenue when it opens in August.

Compleat KiDZ will bring 100 jobs to the downtown area consisting of behavior specialists helping children with developmental disabilities such as autism, oral skill functions and more.

It will take over the spot occupied by Sleepy Poet, which plans to close its downtown location May 31.

Compleat KiDZ will offer different forms of therapy to help children with learning disorders and developmental delays,including motor function, cognitive, play, social skills, speech and language.

Sleepy Poet owners have helped in the transition to the new purpose for the building, the former S.H. Kress Five and Dime Building, which was built in 1956 and has more than 36,700 square feet of space.

"There was no mud-slinging or anything like that," said Bob Fremgen, who handles marketing for Complete KiDZ. "Everyone was one big, happy family and tried to make everything easy for everybody."

Kare Partners LLC, owner of Compleat KiDZ, bought the building for $1.64 million in April.

Compleat KiDZ expects to help downtown Gastonia grow, said Fremgen.

"Our principal, Adi Khindaria, felt like the area was going to explode and wanted to give back to the community that has given to him," Fremgen said. "He wanted to bring jobs to help revitalize the area."

Compleat KiDZ plans to have a sponsorship with the Honey Hunters baseball team which begins play this month at CaroMont Health Park. Under the sponsorship, children receiving care at Complete KiDZ will walk with the team manager onto the field before games.

"We hope to have 200 'kiddos' by the end of this year," Fremgen says. "We're super excited to do more things like that and find ways to support the community."

Compleat KiDZ will be open every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with 100 therapists and 50 office workers to support the 'kiddos' and their families.

"We hope to make the location our headquarters and our dream is that Gastonia would become synonymous with extreme advancement in autism treatment," Fremgen said. "We would love if Gastonia reflected the headquarters for that."

The center plans to hire locally, including some roles that do not require a degree.

The pediatric therapy center, partnered with its adult rehabilitation center, has been in business since 2007.

"We have a lot of plans for the center. We hope parents will engage with downtown after dropping their kids off by going into the retail stores or grabbing something to eat," Fremgen said. "Since we do cater to kids on this spectrum, we want to be able to create jobs and employment opportunities for these children."

Reach Janiya Winchester at 704-869-1842 or jwinchester@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Former Sleepy Poet location becomes youth therapy center

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