MILFORD — The new Good Shepherd Day Care Center, one of the first certified "green" buildings in the state, is getting some green: $350,000 from the State Bond Commission.

The 10,000-square-foot center nearing completion on Old Point Road will be financed primarily through a $3 million loan from the state Health and Educational Facilities Authority. The bond funds announced late last week by House Speaker James Amann will help pay for construction.

The bond commission is expected to approve the funding when it meets Friday, officials said.

The new facility, which will replace the center's current space at St. Peter's Church on River Street downtown, is being built with environmentally friendly materials and is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, day-care Director Gloria Hayes said earlier. It is expected to open later this spring.

Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said Good Shepherd and the East Shore Day Care that it also operates, "provide an invaluable service to Milford. They provide service to families from all economic backgrounds and use a sliding fee scale."

Often those reduced fees are the difference in a mother's being able to work, the mayor said.

The city bought the 1.5-acre site behind St. Gabriel's School and is leasing it to the day-care center, Richetelli said. "They will own the building and the hope, which seems quite possible, is that they will also be able to buy the land from the city," he said.

Hayes said the new building is double the size of the space at St. Peter's, and will allow Good Shepherd to serve more than twice as many infants and toddlers. The number of preschoolers will also be increased, the director said.

More than half of the children who attend Good Shepherd are from single-parent families, Amann said, and 85 percent of the families earn less than the state median income.

"Good Shepherd has established itself as a model for the type of services that working families depend on each day, and now they are also a model of energy efficiency," the House speaker said.

Richetelli said the day-care centers operated by Good Shepherd are a big part of why Milford is considered a model community for early childhood education.

Frank Juliano, Milford bureau chief, can be reached at 878-2130.