FERNDALE — A Sullivan County preschool for young children with special needs is planning to move from the former White Sulphur Springs School to a larger campus in Ferndale, with help from tax incentives approved Monday by the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

G&D Schoolhouse currently serves about 75 children ages 2 to 6 and expects the new location to eventually accommodate as many as 130 students. The school began operating in 2022 as an offshoot of Gelsomino and Davis Speech, Occupational, Physical Therapy Services, which has served Sullivan County families since 2017.

The $8 million project would renovate an existing building at 26 Holland Road and connect it to 17,600 square feet of new construction. The finished facility would total about 24,700 square feet.

At Monday’s meeting, IDA officials said the school is currently leasing the former White Sulphur Springs Elementary School and needs to move out of that building by next September.

Board member Kathleen Lara said she knew several parents who had fought to get their children into the program because of the services it provides.

“There is a real need for it,” Lara said, adding that the program is “doing a tremendous job.”

The applicant estimates the project will cost $8 million, including $6.5 million in construction and $1.5 million in other development expenses. The financing plan calls for $2 million from the owner and a $6 million mortgage from Jeff Bank.

The IDA assistance includes sales, mortgage and property tax exemptions.

About $3.5 million in construction materials and equipment are expected to be exempt from sales tax, representing an estimated $280,000 tax savings. The mortgage tax exemption is estimated at $60,000.

A benefit-cost analysis prepared for the IDA estimates the property tax reductions at another $250,107, putting the total estimated value of the tax abatements at $590,107.

The property tax arrangement is somewhat unusual because the Holland Road property is currently tax exempt.

The property is owned by The Center for Discovery and is expected to return to the tax rolls when it is purchased by 26 Holland Development LLC. The IDA’s analysis estimates about $422,888 in existing assessed value would become taxable.

The tax breaks on the new construction would then phase out over 15 years. The new improvements would receive a full property tax exemption for the first three years before the company begins paying an increasing share each year, reaching full taxation in year 15.

The project is expected to create up to 20 construction jobs.

Once the new school is operating, the applicant projects seven new full-time jobs and two part-time positions while retaining 45 existing full- and part-time jobs. The new positions would include special education teachers, teaching assistants and an administrative assistant, with hiring projected to begin in September 2027.

The IDA’s consultant estimated that, even without counting workers’ wages themselves as an economic benefit, the project would return about $1.62 in public benefits for every $1 in public costs over the 20-year analysis period.