There's another victim of the foreclosure crisis here in the valley. But this time, it's a daycare center. Kids R Kids Daycare, located at North Jones and Lone Mountain, is now bank-owned.
News 3's Hetty Chang reports that this certainly came as a surprise to dozens of parents who expected to drop off their kids Monday morning, just like any other day.
According to a court-appointed receiver - which is a neutral, third party that has taken charge of the property - BB&T Bank took over the property Monday morning at 10 am. Parents and teachers should have received notice weeks ago but, according to them, that never happened.
It has everything parents look for in a daycare center: shuttle service, a nice playground, and security cameras so parents can check on their kids online.
It's just that the owners of Kids R Kids Daycare Center haven't paid their mortgage for so long that, according to a court-appointed receiver, they are upward of $4 million in debt.
BB&T Bank of North Carolina took over the property Monday morning, something that came as quite a shock to parents like Nicole Johnson.
"This facility... is on the expensive side. But we figured this facility is nicer; the people were great. I went to go get (my son) out of the daycare and they told me no more daycare."
But it wasn't even the owners of the daycare center that told parents what was happening; it was workers from other daycares, like Sweet Pea Learning Center.
"I heard over the weekend," says Angie Borcuk. "Saturday I got the notice from my supervisor."
Hetty Chang: So tell me, what it is that you're trying to do here?
Borcuk: Just trying to help the parents so they have a place to bring their children.
Parents and teachers were supposed to be told of the closing of Kids R Kids weeks ago.
"Nobody said a word to me," says Rick Cox.
Echoes Nicole Johnson, "No warning, no ‘Hey, things aren't' looking good.' Nothing."
And when the owners were supposed to allow parents to collect their children's belongings, only a representative from the court-appointed receiver kept his end of the deal. Some parents add that they were not able to retrieve their children's records from the center.
But just after leaving the property, the owner of Kids R Kids contacted News 3. She says parents should have kept their children's original records and that although she has copies, they are her property.
She continued that it was not her fault that the daycare center closed and, although she tried to work out her loan with the bank, the bank refused to work with her. She also says she sent a letter to parents that alerted them of the center's closing.