A $9 million childcare center at the Rapid Central Station is set to open in August, offering 100 childcare slots in a new model that tackles transportation and childcare barriers at once.

Community organizations including Grand Rapids Public Schools, Head Start for Kent County, The Rapid, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids are collaborating to develop the Central Station Early Childhood Center.

The project addresses two of the region’s most pressing challenges by co-locating affordable childcare with public transit, a model that proponents say could be replicated statewide if licensing hurdles ease.

The partners expect construction to wrap up in June on the adaptive reuse of an underused building at the Rapid Central Station.

“The focus is for people to come in, be able to drop the child off and within a 10-minute turn, be able to get right back on a transfer to head to work or school,” said Scott Lewis, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids. “We’re doing something that hasn’t been done a whole lot across the country: solving two major issues for parents at the same time.”