Our Story
Suzi Anderson, the owner of The Kids Bay Learning Center, relocated in 1976 to Solana Beach from Orange County, California. Her Dad, Frank Anderson was a real estate broker with humble, hardworking ethics. After he moved his family from Orange County, he bought and developed land in San Diego which started his path in commercial real estate. One of the parcels that he bought was from the William Randolph Hearst Estate totaling 37 acres in an area known as North City West which is located in San Diego County, neighboring Del Mar. This area would eventually be renamed as Carmel Valley and would one day become home to The Kids Bay Learning Center.
In 1988, after graduating college, Suzi decided to move back to San Diego to start working with her Dad in commercial real estate development. She received her real estate and broker’s license shortly before having her first child. Suzi felt very lucky that she lived close to her parents and that her Mom could take care of her newborn baby while continuing to work for the family business. However, her childcare would not last long as her mother was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years later. Suzi found herself scrambling to find someone to take care of her daughter while she had to work. She quickly realized that every childcare center she called was at full capacity and had long waitlists. Finally she was able to find a church preschool with less than desirable hours. After this experience, Suzi and her Dad began to discuss the major issues that all working parents were facing. It became clear it was a major problem to find good quality childcare for their young children.
After things settled down with her Mom and she recovered from cancer, Frank suggested that their next project would be to build a good quality childcare center for working parents in Carmel Valley. In 1999, Suzi and her Dad worked on splitting off and entitling a portion of the 37 acres in order to build a quality childcare center. It would take years of planning and permitting. In 2003, Suzi’s Dad passed away before their dream of building the childcare center together. With a heavy heart, Suzi moved forward with their plans, and with her husband, completed the long awaited project that they knew would change many families’ lives for years to come. On January 2, 2010 The Kids Bay opened for business.