Construction begins on Atlanta's Inn for Children -- at last.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 1996--Construction is underway, after three years of perseverance by Atlanta's hospitality and community leaders, on the Atlanta's Inn for Children, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, early learning childcare and family resource facility in downtown Atlanta.

Designed to meet the special needs and irregular hours of hospitality industry employees, Atlanta's Inn for Children will serve 250 children and provide comprehensive family services and child development educational programs to as many as 1,000 families of downtown workers and other local community users when it opens in early 1997.

The center is being built by Central Atlanta Hospitality Childcare, Inc. (CAHCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, community-based organization founded in 1993 as a collaborative response to a crisis in childcare. The concept for the Inn grew out of a meeting of hotel managers organized under the leadership of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and Marriott Suites Midtown hotels in partnership with the Omni Hotel at CNN Center and the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel to address the desperate situation of employees who cannot find affordable childcare that accommodates their non-standard work hours. The ensuing collaboration, unprecedented among such competitors, resulted in support by the hotels for the project's development, as well as their commitments for revenue guarantees in the form of tuition assistance.

Community support for Atlanta's Inn for Children (initially called "The Children's Inn") is strong, beginning with planning grants provided by the State of Georgia and the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation. The project also benefitted from the early involvement of community leaders, including Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell and Board Member Dr. Carl Patton, president of Georgia State University, as well as Fulton County Commissioner Nancy Boxill, who is serving as executive director of the facility.

"Since the Inn is breaking new ground in both financing and concept," said Donna Klein, CAHCI President and Director of Work-Life Programs for Marriott International, "it is especially gratifying to have had the unwavering commitment, encouragement and financial support from the hotels and the Atlanta community."

With no model to guide financing or development of such a new concept, the project was delayed for more than 10 months as financing details were resolved. Permanent financing has now been secured through Eaton Vance Management Inc., a Boston-based private investor group which bought $4.765 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds. PHN Capital Funding Inc. of Atlanta structured the financing and sold the tax-exempt bonds as well as taxable revenue bonds in the amount of $350,000 to PHN Capital Group Inc., an affiliate of PHN Capital Funding. Lovell C. Jones & Co. Inc. of Atlanta served as financial advisor to CAHCI.

The state-of-the-art center will be located at the northeast corner of Renaissance and Courtland Street. It is being designed, developed and operated by AmeriCare Early Learning Centers, a Georgia-based company specializing in employer-based, on-site childcare facilities. Hall-MSK, a joint venture of Colorado-based Hall Construction and Atlanta-based MSK Construction, is contractor for the project.

To this point, financial support of the Inn has come primarily from the CAHCI member hotels. While these participating hotels will continue their revenue guarantees, contributions for tuition assistance from the community, government and private sector organizations are now essential to fully fund operation of the Inn. Participation from and use by other hospitality concerns is also required for the success of the project.

"The center's new name -- 'Atlanta's Inn for Children' -- recognizes the community's contribution, as well as the many individuals who believed strongly that the Center was needed and would be build," said John Whorton, president of AmeriCare. "The Center is an especially meaningful way for Atlanta to say 'thank you' to the thousands of reservation agents, kitchen staff, waitresses, security guards, housekeeping staff and others who comprise the backbone of Atlanta's Olympic hospitality," he said.

Atlanta's Inn for Children will offer high quality learning programs and total family services including innovative, parent-friendly classes and workshops on topics such as nutrition, immunizations, literacy training and computer instruction. In addition, a parent resource center will link families with existing community action agencies. The center will also provide a "get-well" facility for children with mild illnesses, an advanced security system, and video monitors that will allow parents to observe their children at any time.

A fundraising campaign to support Atlanta's Inn for Children is currently underway, chaired by Valerie Bell, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Companies and individuals wishing to be recognized as donors or to reserve childcare slots at the Inn should contact Dr. Nancy Boxill at AmeriCare [phone]. A slide of Executive Director Boxill with children is available by contacting Lindsay Conn at 202/393-5247.

CONTACT: Lindsay Conn

202/393-5247

http://www.marriott.com/