ST. LOUIS — It was billed as a way to help families bridge the achievement gap in north St. Louis, but the founder says Good Shepherd Preschool & Infant Center still hasn't opened its doors because a multi-billion-dollar company is delaying their plans.
After 13 years in a small building along Page Boulevard, Cortaiga Collins couldn't have been more excited when she cut the ribbon on Good Shepherd Preschool & Infant Center’s new multi-million-dollar facility in March.
"This facility is going to mean an opportunity to close some achievement gaps for children who live in this community,” said Cortaiga Collins, founder of Good Shepherd.
Good Shepherd already has more than 100 families on its waitlist after touring its new facility.
"It really makes my heart smile to know that what we're offering is desired and deemed valuable from families,” said Collins.
The problem is Collins still can't open the doors due to an unsightly pole in the middle of the parking lot that's keeping them from putting in a wheelchair ramp and being ADA compliant.
"We have been waiting for AT&T to finish removing their portion of removing the telephone pole, and getting us phone lines here in the building, so that we could have a fire alarm system."
Collins reached out to the company multiple times since construction started, but AT&T has been slow to take action.
"It's really been frustrating so I think some things just kind of fell through the cracks,” said Collins. “I think because of other delays they maybe put our project to the side. The ball was dropped somewhere."
KSDK reached out to AT&T to find out what's behind the delay, and a company spokesman provided us with this statement: "This is a complex project that involves not just the removal of a pole, but also the relocation of our infrastructure. Equipment shortages have delayed our progress, however, we are working as quickly as possible to get this done and we plan to have it completed soon."
Though crews are currently working in the area, AT&T doesn't have a timeline for work to be done and the pole to be removed.
"It's been extremely frustrating telling all of these families that I know you saw us on the news but we cannot take you for another 5-6 weeks,” said Collins.
For more information on Good Shepherd Preschool & Infant Center click here.