ARDMORE, Okla. (AP) – The Chickasaw Nation has broken ground on a new child development center that will provide education services to more than 200 tribal and non-native children in the Ardmore area.

Construction on the Ardmore Early Childhood Development Center is expected to take 18 months

The 26,000-sqaure-foot facility will be patterned after the tribe’s child development center in Ada. Tribal leaders say the Ardmore center is designed to be a learning facility that fosters education and growth for each child.

It will feature four themed corridors – a town, a zoo, the mountains and a farm – and include 17 classrooms, indoor and outdoor play areas, three storm shelter rooms, a library and more.