Kaleideum Downtown Closing Celebration Is Sunday, April 23
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (MARCH 30, 2023)—Kaleideum, an experiential learning museum in Winston-Salem, NC, announced today that the Kaleideum Downtown building, located at 390 South Liberty Street, is under contract with Compleat Kidz, a pediatric rehabilitation services clinic for children with special needs. The closing date for the sale will be June 30, 2023.
“We are thrilled that this building, which has brought joy and made memories for so many children and families, will continue to serve in this capacity well into the future,” said Elizabeth Dampier, Kaleideum Executive Director. “Closing Kaleideum Downtown, the building that housed the Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem, is certainly bittersweet for all of us, but we know we have found the perfect buyer for this location — and a true partner that we hope to work closely with in the future.”
“As a longtime resident of Winston-Salem and a father of four, it has been an honor to represent Kaleideum in the sale of its original downtown facility,” said Jeff Andrews, Partner and Broker-in-Charge at Commercial Realty Advisors. “With more than 70 children and grandchildren among our employees at Commercial Realty Advisors, investing in the future of Winston-Salem youth is important to us. We have wonderful memories of Kaleideum Downtown, and playing a role in the sale of this facility has been a highlight for our firm. We are excited that the property will continue to aid in the growth and development of Winston-Salem children through the building’s new owner, Compleat Kidz.”
In addition to speech, occupational, and physical therapy, Compleat Kidz offers ABA therapy, which is behavioral therapy for children on the autism spectrum. The clinics offer these services for children with special needs all under one roof with a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to therapy. The organization plans on hiring up to 100 direct care staff to provide services to the families of Forsyth County, with a capacity of up to 150 clients.
“As Compleat Kidz opens our 14th location in the former Kaleideum Downtown space, the hope is to be open and providing services this July,” said Adi Khindaria, CEO of Compleat Kidz. “Our plan is to continue to offer an open space concept for children in ABA services, allowing them to interact with peers and engage in gross motor skill activities, as well as provide smaller spaces to be able to focus on one-on-one, tabletop activities. The space comes with the goodwill of kiddos from years past, for all the kiddos who will use it as a place of learning in years ahead.”
Kaleideum was formed by the merger of The Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem and SciWorks in 2016. The museum has been operating two locations — Kaleideum Downtown and Kaleideum North — as it plans its move to a new, 70,000 square foot building in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem that will open in early 2024 with nine exhibition spaces, an expansive rooftop, and a first-floor multipurpose room.
Kaleideum will hold a Downtown Closing Bash on Sunday, April 23, to celebrate 390 South Liberty Street’s past and future. Kaleideum Downtown, which is currently operating only on Saturdays and Sundays, will be open from 10 am to 6 pm that day, and visitors will be able to say goodbye with a full day of creative activities, storytimes, and snacks provided by Food Lion. In addition, Kaleideum invites the community to participate in a Collaborative Art Project to commemorate the museum’s history and its transition to a new location. Museum guests will be asked to draw their favorite memories about the Kaleideum; as well as illustrate what they are looking forward to at the new location. This project will launch on Saturday, April 8, at Kaleideum Downtown and will continue April 15 and April 23. The project will be continued on Saturdays throughout May at Kaleideum North and again in the fall. Kaleideum North will close on December 31, 2023.
“It is important for us to take a collaborative approach to letting the community say goodbye to buildings that have played such an important part in so many people’s lives,” Dampier said. “At the same time, we are excited about our future as we continue to honor our past.”
About Compleat Kidz
Compleat Kidz is a provider of pediatric rehabilitative services, including speech, occupational and physical therapy to children with special needs. In 2019, the organization began providing ABA therapy, which is behavioral therapy for children on the Autism spectrum. They now provide both services in the same clinic to best serve the children they are caring for and their families.
About Kaleideum
Kaleideum is an experiential learning museum that was formed in 2016 by the merger of The Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem and SciWorks to establish a single organization with a mission to “inspire wonder, curiosity, and lifelong learning in our children and community through interactive play and discovery.” Kaleideum broke ground on a new museum in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem in August 2021 with an expected completion date of fall 2023 and a grand opening in early 2024. In the interim, Kaleideum operates out of the museum’s existing locations — Kaleideum Downtown (formerly The Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem) and Kaleideum North (formerly SciWorks).
Will there be a way for my homeschool children to put a mark on the new facility in any way? We have been going here for nearly 16 years and my oldest never got to do anything cool like a tile in the floor or on the wall and she really wants to know how she can do something like that.