South Florida Autism Center, Inc. and South Florida Autism Charter Schools, Inc. plan to open a new $9 million center in 2024 that will serve children, families and adults with autism spectrum disorder.
Officials broke ground on Oct. 25 for the South Florida Autism Center, at 3751 W. 108th St. in Hialeah, designed by the CIVICA architecture and design firm.
It will be a three-story, “one-stop shop” with an aquatic center, day care and programming that will include classes for high school graduates and adults.
“They’ll be welcomed with open arms,” Tamara Moodie, Ph.D., founder and principal of the South Florida Autism Charter School that is next door, said at the celebration. “This will give everyone an opportunity to learn a trade, learn a job and how to be appropriate out in the community and also how to live independently.”
Officials present for the ground-breaking included Miami-Dade County Public Schools board member Roberto Alonso.
About 100 of the charter school’s 300 students are from Miami Lakes, spokesman John Rogger said. The school opened in 2021 and serves grades K-12 and adults. It is west of town, across Interstate 75.
Other services planned for the new center include swimming lessons; early intervention programs; a therapy clinic for speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy and applied behavioral analysis; a gym for the whole family and job placement.
In addition to the new center is a residential project, The Villages of South Florida Autism, that is being planned.
For more information go to friendsofsfa.org.