Sep. 22—A Dayton construction firm has landed a contract to build what base advocates have said is a much-needed child development center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Butt Construction Co. Inc. was awarded a $31,356,900 firm-fixed-price contract for design-build construction of a child development center, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

The building will cover about 43,000 square feet, to be located on Wright-Patterson's Area A, Charles Delano, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which issued the contract), said Friday.

Some of the amenities will include a childcare facility for children up to five years of age, with a playground and a traditional day care facility, Delano said.

Groundbreaking for construction is expected in the spring of 2024.

Bids for the child development center were solicited via the Internet with 10 received, the DOD said. The department expects a completion date of Dec. 19, 2025.

Fiscal 2023 military construction, defense-wide funds of $31.3 million were obligated at the time of the award.

In the past few years, $53 million has been secured for a pair of child care centers at Wright-Patterson.

The need for the centers has been felt for a while. The project in 2021 ranked No. 6 out of 30 unfunded Air Force projects, according to Michael Gessel, vice president of federal government programs for the Dayton Development Coalition.

That's "fairly high up," Gessel said at the time.

Last year, $29 million was secured in the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act for a child care facility at Wright-Patt.

That amount was in addition to $24 million for another center approved in a previous fiscal year's Defense Authorization Act

Plans for one of the centers called for it to cover 41,000 square feet, housing about 300 children, according to U.S. Rep. Mike Turner's office last year. It was to include "force protection features," sheltered outdoor play areas, pick-up and drop-off sites and other features.

Butt also received a $18,754,900 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a maintenance support facility in Southfield, Mich., the DOD said.