A fire at a childcare centre on Auckland's North Shore early this morning is being treated as suspicious.
Fire at childcare centre blow to co-owner whose son, 17, left yesterday on basketball team's trip to China.
A mother's joy at seeing her son picked to play for the Tall Blacks has been marred by the shock of losing her new $2.2 million childcare centre in Albany in a suspicious fire.
On Thursday, Maria Anstis learned her 17-year-old son Jack Salt, a Westlake Boys' High School student,had gained selection for the Tall Blacks' tour to China.
But early yesterday, a caller told her of the blaze at her Natural Steps Early Childhood Centre, which opened only in January in Apollo Drive.
"I'm totally devastated that something like this would happen to a business on the North Shore," she emailed the Herald before driving her son to the airport to join the team.
"Support from the local childcare centres and Early Childhood Council has been very helpful.
"We are a close-knit community and very supportive of each other and with it being school holidays, a lot of children are having a week's holiday at home.
"We will be relocating until the new build is complete."
Ms Anstis' business partner in the Albany centre, Tracey Macintyre, said they had planned and built the ideal centre for early education.
