Kids Courtyard incorporated on 9/29/2016

KidsCourtyard.com is the new address (currently redirecting to Facebook while the page is under construction).

Three lines of revenue

This building is specifically designed for single mothers, either working or in school, but also works for other lifestyles as well.

1. Apartments
2. Day care for surrounding community
3. Restaurant/food for tenants (and community)

It's kind of like a giant lemonade stand, with all the profits going to the kids.

This building does not have a landlord and is designed to distribute the landlord interests, management, and responsibilities to the tenants.

Construction is profitable for the initial investors, and ongoing profits are redistributed to the tenants' children.

Ownership is conveyed to the children as they reach 18 and move out.

Investors earn returns from 2 sources:
1. Construction/project fee on each building ($1 million - $250,000, as the system becomes cookie-cutter).  Demographics show a possible 500-1000 buildings in the United States alone ($125 million).
2. Retail in the surrounding area.  Franchise possibilities.  Gas, toys, clothes, bicycles, coffee, etc.

The Courtyard

Each space in the center is a common-living area:  day-care, dining, pool, study, etc.  Lots of light and lots of visibility from all sides.  Mothers can study inside their private living spaces while keeping an eye on their kids.

Note the elevators at the apex in the back.  Some Kid's Courtyards might have a trap door with a slide into a pool.  Remote controls on the trap-doors.

One really nice thing about this design is a Kid's Courtyard space can be "retrofitted" onto existing buildings.

Clarification

Note:  each building is either a single-fathers' building OR a single-mothers' building.  Adults of the opposite sex are not allowed in the building.

Kid's Courtyard Synopsis

Kid’s Courtyard

“This building is owned by the kids who used to live here.”

The mission is to renovate or construct a building to provide “single-parent housing”.  The vision is a for-profit venture to build or renovate over 1000 buildings around the United States with long term residual income generated from retail in the surrounding area.  First location might be New York City or Miami.  The goal is a land-lord free, self-managing building providing a core of safe, healthy, sustainable living for the community.  Initial funding sources can be private, public, or a combination thereof.

Finances

·         $800,000 initial investment.

·         Return is a $500,000 project development fee after construction/renovation is completed.

·         1,000 buildings are possible around the country (13 million single mother households).

·         Retail possibilities include toys, clothing, restaurants, bicycles, and gas stations.

Management

·         Initial partners construct or renovate the building.

·         Those partners become Board of Directors of the corporation.

·         Residents fill officer positions in the corporation.

·         All profits from the building itself are rolled into a toy fund and spent by the children.

·         Shares in the corporation are transferred to the children after they move out.

For a 6-page detailed description of this unique plan, please contact me.  As a single father, I designed every detail to make sure my son and his mother were cared for, even if I were not around.

Andrew B Brown - Project Architect

Mr. Brown has over 15 years experience managing software projects and consulting in the accounting, mortgage, banking, and finance industries.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UT Austin.

+66 98 252 4335

andrewbb@gmail.com

Attachment:  basic architectural sketch

Kid's Courtyard Plan

Kid’s Courtyard

“This building is owned by the kids who used to live here.”

Summary

This is a building without a landlord that is designed for single mothers and their children.  It is a for-profit venture looking for seed capital.  Due to this being an entirely new concept in an untapped market, potential is billions.

Create a community for single mothers enabling them to go to college while raising their children in a healthy environment.  Depending on the amount of governmental or private grants available the total cost to each single mother family is $800-$1200/month and includes a 2 bedroom apartment, food, day-care, and babysitting.

With the number of single mothers in the United States today, this project can create over 500 buildings around the country which would provide homes to 150,000 single mothers and their children.  The project development fee on each building is $250,000 to $1,000,000 which leads to over $125 million in development fees before retail is considered.

A building of 300 single mothers with over 1,000 children in the area will form a core to the community that will provide new jobs and encourage small businesses such as children’s clothing, bicycles, skateboards, etc.

Market

Over 13 million single mothers live in the United States with 6-7 million of those families' children under the age of 10.  Since most mothers do not have sufficient financial support to supervise and be a stay-at-home mom, working, going to school, and raising children is a near impossible challenge.  Day care averages over $600/month and single mothers do not have the finances or time to attend college while working in low-wage jobs to support their children.  A building and community specifically designed for their unique needs has never been designed before.

Problem Statement

While there are many sources of private and public money dedicated to assisting single mothers today, no one has addressed the unique living challenges of single mothers raising small children by themselves while working or going to college.  Bringing many such families together in a common environment allows those families to share responsibilities while increasing the time they have available to spend with their children.  This allows them to improve their future, attend college, obtain advanced degrees, all while raising their children in a healthy, safe, holistic, sustainable environment.  The design of Kid's Courtyard holds all those goals in mind while providing safe, fun, social environments for all the children living in the building and the surrounding community.  This builds a solid, healthy core to the neighborhood community and brings new jobs and small business opportunities to the area.

Objective and Project Description

This project creates a sustainable, healthy living arrangement for women in similar lifestyles.  Shared supervision and shared daily living responsibilities ease the burden of their similar situations and allow more time to raise their children and provide for their future.  With 20-25 single mother families on each floor, fewer than 2 hours of time would be required by each mother per day to assist with supervision or cooking.  This leaves her with 14 to 16 hours every day to study, work, or play.  If a few mothers go out at night, their kids throw a slumber party in a bunk bed room.  Babysitting and daycare are free provided each mother donates an hour or two each day.

A licensed, full-time child care professional is on-staff to assist and schedule the children's supervision.  This provides a link to the community with total accountability and allows the building to serve as a multi-purpose day care facility.  Neighborhood children can be cared for during the day at a low cost to neighborhood families (<$300/month).  This creates a strong community and fosters communication throughout the neighborhood.  Mothers in the neighborhood are welcome in the building during the day and are another resource for assisting with building responsibilities.  Donating time for supervision or cooking might reduce their monthly child-care cost.

The building is managed by the residents and is formed as a non-profit corporation.  All officer positions are filled by one mother and one child serving as co-officers.  A few of the co-officer positions would be CEO, Finance, IT, Health, Food/Beverage, Maintenance, and Security officers.  Each office is limited to a maximum of two terms of 6 months.  These officer positions provide valuable experience to graduating students.  Health officers must be EMT-certified and most/all pre-med students are strongly recommended to hold that certification.  In this way, all aspects of the building are managed internally.  Costs and revenue are under the direction of the building's residents where they might improve food quality, purchase items in bulk, do maintenance themselves or focus on revenue through offering day-care or other services to maximize the non-profit's cash flow.

All profits generated by this non-profit corporation are rolled into a toy fund that can be spent freely by the children.  This allows less-advantaged children and mothers who are not receiving child care support to play.  It also encourages the children to work together, learn to manage money and their expectations, share, and respect, while encouraging and fostering interpersonal awareness and social skills.  The toy fund can grow depending on how well the mothers and children manage the building.

Depending on the source of financing, it is strongly preferred that one third of all financing for this project be raised through private loans from the local community.  These loans would likely be at 6% for 30 years and the loans sold in $100, $1,000, $10,000, and $100,000 increments.  That encourages community awareness and involvement and also spreads the non-profit corporation's liabilities over a large segment of the population which provides legal and financial safety to the building.

The non-profit corporation holds ownership to the building.  The corporate shares are to be passed to the children after they move out and reach contractual age.  In the meantime, the shares are held in a trust secured by the investors and note-holders on the project.

The capstone will say "This building is owned by the kids who used to live here."  It is an everyday reminder that the children will own the building after they move out.  If the children don't behave they might not be placed on the ownership list.  This will instill a sense of ownership, pride, and responsibility to the children encouraging them to take care of the building and fosters their sense of self and their place in their community.  This solves long-term management issues as the children who own the building will always have strong emotional ties to the building and neighborhood.

This solution builds a community and provides a unique living experience that prepares both the mother and child to do anything they might imagine in the future.  With nearly 1000 children present on a daily basis along with 300 single mothers, a healthy core of safety, security, and emotional stability is provided to the local community.

Building Design

The building is multi-story with each floor designed for children in a particular age range (Eg. 0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, & 15+).  Two bedroom apartments comprise the exterior of the building with private bathrooms and no kitchens.  A commercial kitchen and dining room comprises one of the floors in the building with the kitchen staffed by residents on a rotating basis.  A hallway surrounds a glass-enclosed central area of approximately 80x80 feet.  Each play area might include video games, arts and crafts tables, and toys designed for a particular age range.  Infants and small toddlers require less space and those floors might contain bunk beds for slumber parties if a few mothers are out for the evening.

Depending on climate, a pool is on the roof with an interior pool on a lower floor.  One floor is designated as a commercial kitchen and dining area that is operated and managed by the mothers and children.  A food and beverage co-officer position manages the dining room.

The exterior of the 15 story building includes a large backyard play area and conforms to minimum child-care facility dimensions (minimum 45/sf per child) so 1.3 acres for a 300 mother/450 child building.

Ownership and Management

Ownership of the building is to be held in a non-profit corporation with all shares held in trust.  Project developers form a temporary partnership and serve as officers until construction is complete.  Corporate officer positions are filled by the residents in a co-officer arrangement of one single mother and one child from a different family.  The project partnership is dissolved when the residents take over management of the building.  All shares in the non-profit corporation are passed to the children after they move out and reach contractual age.

Building Finances

Assumptions:

·         300 single mothers with 450 children

·         Day care for 450 neighborhood children ($300/month each)

·         Over 100 sq ft of interior play area per child

·         Building $190/SF, including furniture & fixtures

·         Land $100/SF

·         $30,000,000 in grants

·         $800/month for food, rent, day-care and babysitting

Building	42,670,587
Land	5,547,214
Project costs	10,000,000
less: GOB or other	(30,000,000)
Total loans	28,217,801
Interest rate	6%
Term	30
Payment	(2,049,993)

Yearly cash flow:

Rental income	2,880,000	800	per family/month
Income from day care	1,620,000	300	per child/month
Loan payment	(2,049,993)
Food	(1,620,000)	450	per family/month
Maintenance	(22,458)
Utilities	(269,498)
Child care manager	(70,000)
Taxes	0		tax-exempt
Insurance	(250,000)
Toy fund	218,051	485	per child/year

The cash flow above assumes $30 million in grant money.  If the project is financed privately the monthly cost to live there, including apartment, food, and day care is $1200-1300.  With $30 million dollars in grants the cost lowers dramatically to $800/month which allows the mothers to be full-time students while not requiring any external financial assistance.  Over 10 years, over 3000 single mothers can be assisted and the subsidy allowed by the grant money becomes <$10,000 for each mother while educating them in advanced degrees, revitalizing the local community, providing jobs, and creating healthy families.

Andrew B Brown – Project Architect

Mr. Brown has over 15 years experience managing software projects and consulting in the accounting, mortgage, banking, and finance industries.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UT Austin.

+66 98 252 4335
andrewbb@gmail.com