Lightbridge Academy is opening a new location in Bayonne, New Jersey, in Autumn 2021. The ground-breaking ceremony for the new premises was earlier this month. The new facility, located at 191 LeFante Way South Cove, is owned by Hudson County father/sons entrepreneur team, Vijay, Manan, and Neel Shah.
Business representatives and City of Bayonne officials, along with Vijay, Manan, and Neel Shah, took part in a pre-construction ceremony. Lightbridge also presented a contribution to the City of Bayonne’s Recreation Division, which will be used to support Buddy Baseball –- a special needs children’s program.
Lightbridge Academy provides early education and child care programs for children ages six-weeks through kindergarten, as well as special programming for children up to 10 years old for summer camp and a new school-age remote learning program. It began franchising in 2011 and today the company has more than 119 learning centers either open, under construction, or in development.
Manan and Neel will be the managing principals of the Bayonne center. The family office currently runs 30+ businesses across 10+ franchises and independent brands. They own and operate a Peaceful Adult Daycare Center in Little Ferry, N.J., and continue to add to their service portfolio with their first Lightbridge Academy.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be the first national brand child care in the area. Bayonne has been under-going some serious redevelopment and it was the perfect opportunity to offer a quality early education program like Lightbridge Academy to the community. Education is a passion of mine and I understand the importance of early-stage teaching. With so many nieces and nephews running around in my life, it was an obvious business/passion project,” said Manan.
The new Bayonne location is being constructed inside the former Bayonne Frank Cinema 12 at the South Cove Commons Shopping Center, which is owned by the Alessi Organization. The site will be able to accommodate as many as 200 children. Up to seven businesses, including retail, will be housed in the former movie theater building.
