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🧒 A new 16,000+ square-foot childcare facility is set to open in 2026 at the Freedom Tech Center, offering services from infancy through after-school care.
🏗️ The project is a partnership between developer Jay Odom Group and local early education provider Grow With Us Learning Academy.
🏛️ Fort Walton Beach City Council approved the development order unanimously, emphasizing the project’s alignment with regional needs and priorities.
FORT WALTON BEACH — A new early learning and childcare facility is coming to the Freedom Tech Center after the Fort Walton Beach City Council unanimously approved a significant development order during their regular meeting on June 24.
The project will bring a 16,194-square-foot building to 620 Liberty Lane Northwest and is a partnership between the Jay Odom Group and Grow With Us Learning Academy, a locally owned early childhood education provider headquartered in Fort Walton Beach.
The building is scheduled to open in August 2026, coinciding with the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
“This is the next phase, next part of that project out there,” said Christopher Frassetti, the city’s Growth Management Director. “Staff has completed our technical analysis. It does meet all the requirements of our land development code, as well as the site standards previously approved.”
The facility will feature multiple playgrounds and provide services for children as young as six weeks old through kindergarten, along with an aftercare program for children up to 12 years old.
Victor Lahos, vice president of the Jay Odom Group, represented the developer at the meeting as Jay Odom was unavailable that Tuesday evening.
“One of the first critical needs Eglin [Air Force Base] talked to us about was childcare,” Lahos told the council. “We talked to a number of national companies, but we were really excited to meet a local company, a homegrown company headquartered in Fort Walton.”
The new childcare center will join six other Grow With Us Learning Academy locations throughout Northwest Florida.
Lahos added that the project has the enthusiastic support of other businesses moving into the Freedom Tech Center campus.
Councilman David Schmidt made the motion to approve the development order and commended city staff for helping to fast-track the project before the council’s July recess.
“They’ll keep coming to us with a huge investment of helping meet needs,” Schmidt said. “We greatly appreciate it, and thank you all for what you do — and thank you, Chris [Frassetti], for continuing to make it happen with these developers.”
The Freedom Tech Center, located at 620 Liberty Lane, is a significant mixed-use development already under construction.
The council previously approved multiple phases of the project, which has been designed to accommodate businesses, government offices, and amenities that support regional growth.
No one from the public spoke in opposition to the proposal during the meeting.
The motion was seconded by Councilman Bryce Jeter and passed without objection.
Pro Communi Bono
