Chick'' LoPiano sat with Peter Vanier and Robert Hatem from the Lower Merrimack Valley Regional Employment Board plotting ways to put the long vacant Sutherland Building on Essex Street to good use. Mr. LoPiano calls the building an ''educational condo,'' with different agencies, such as the Plains Community Child Care Center, YMCA, YWCA, Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Inc., Early Headstart, and Lawrence Public Schools running programs in the center. Early Headstart is for infants and toddlers, and is the first of its kind in Lawrence. All the agencies will eventually be certified by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Inc. The center is for children of Lawrence residents who work.
Tuition is based on a sliding scale.
There are still openings in some of the programs. Once a dusty department store, the building's first floor has been transformed into a bright space, with plenty of windows and doors. The center's winding hallways feature colorful tiles meant to symbolize the Merrimack River. A section of the ceiling is decorated to look like one of the city's bridges. Special lights also were installed so students can grow plants in the building.