Motor City Match supports Kidz Kingdom expansion, giving Detroit families more room for childcare, play and celebrations

• Kidz Kingdom, Detroit’s first indoor playground, marks Motor City Match’s 212th neighborhood ribbon cutting

• Founder Danielle North bought an 11,000-square-foot building to expand her child care business, going from renter to owner with more than four times the space of her former 2,500-square-foot location on Fenkell Avenue

• North started Kidz Kingdom as an indoor playground after her son, then 6, asked for a place to play, and she couldn’t find one anywhere in Detroit

• An $85,000 Motor City Match Round 23 grant helped fund electrical, plumbing and carpentry work for the new child care space

• Kidz Kingdom employs four people, and North plans to hire at least two more to help manage the larger facility

October 9, 2026 (DETROIT) – The Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) and City of Detroit today celebrated the grand opening of Kidz Kingdom’s new location in Detroit’s Franklin Park neighborhood, marking Motor City Match’s 212th neighborhood ribbon cutting.  

Founder Danielle North bought the 11,000-square-foot building, located at at 20035 Plymouth Road, to expand her child care business, taking Kidz Kingdom from renter to owner after a decade in a leased space. North moved the business from a 2,500-square-foot rented storefront at 18602 Fenkell Ave. The new building is more than four times larger and gives child care, parties and summer camp their own dedicated spaces. 

North received an $85,000 Motor City Match cash grant through Round 23, which paid contractors for electrical, plumbing and carpentry work to build out the child care space. 

“It’s been a dream deferred for about five years,” North said. “For five years, I was paying rent there and the mortgage here.”

A son’s request starts a business

North opened Kidz Kingdom after her son, then 6, kept asking for somewhere to jump around and play. She searched for an indoor playground in Detroit, came up empty and decided to build one in her own neighborhood. Her son, now 17, named the business, which became Detroit’s first indoor playground.

“The entrepreneur in me said, ‘OK, I’m going to do something about that,’” North said. “I’m going to put it in my neighborhood. I’m going to do it for my kid. Really, the impetus was my child and every other child in the city of Detroit who deserved to have a safe and fun place to play.”

Parents soon started asking whether they could leave their children there for the day. North added summer camp, then launched child care in 2017, which gave families ongoing care and gave the business steadier revenue alongside weekend parties.

The expanded location gives Kidz Kingdom separate areas for childcare, parties and summer camp. Older children participating in camp have space for activities while younger children rest, and celebrations can take place in a separate area from the childcare program.

“Every working parent in this city deserves a safe place for their kids while they go to work, go back to school or chase something bigger,” said Mayor Mary Sheffield. “Child care is what makes all of that possible. And when a Detroiter owns the building her business sits in, that investment tends to stick around for the long haul.”

Kidz Kingdom currently has approximately 26 childcare slots. North said the space offers an opportunity to increase capacity in the future, but she is maintaining the current number as the business settles into its new location.

The move also positions the business to resume hosting parties, which were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. North had held off on restarting them while preparing the new space.

Opportunities through investment

North began planning a larger, shared building in 2019, and fellow entrepreneurs who owned their buildings encouraged her to stop renting. She bought the Plymouth Road building on a land contract in August 2021, then refinanced through Invest Detroit in 2025 to buy out the seller. The $85,000 Motor City Match grant, financing from ProsperUs, and a substantial amount of her own money and assets helped complete the project.

“Danielle carried rent on one building and a mortgage on another for five years, and she never stopped serving families,” said Sean Gray, DEGC senior vice president of Small Business Services, which administers Motor City Match. “A lot of business owners would have stayed put. She bet on herself, bought the building and built a space where kids can learn, play and celebrate.”

“Bringing accessible, high-quality childcare and higher education to Cody Rouge strengthens families and breathes new life into this corridor, and that’s exactly the kind of impact Invest Detroit seeks to support,” said Derek Edwards, senior vice president of Lending at Invest Detroit. “Kidz Kingdom and the Dream Studio show what’s possible when a Detroiter invests in their community. Danielle North’s drive over five challenging years is an example for entrepreneurs throughout our city.”

Four employees currently work in the childcare program. One will also help with parties, and North plans to hire at least two additional people to assist with managing the broader facility.

North hired Detroit-based contractors to build out the Plymouth Road property, including a master electrician, a master plumber and a drywall company.

“As entrepreneurs, we should be providing as many opportunities to others as possible, whether it be jobs or contracts or other opportunities,” she said. “Becoming a developer has meant that I’ve been able to disperse funds out to other people and provide opportunities for others.”

Through 32 rounds of Motor City Match:

• Total cash grants: $21 million (Total leveraged investment: $119 million)

• 83.8% of awardees are minority-owned

• 72% are women-owned

• 70.6% are owned by Detroit residents

About Motor City Match

Motor City Match is a small business incubator program powered by a partnership between the City of Detroit, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) and Economic Development Corporation of the City of Detroit (EDC). The program awards cash grants and provides planning, design and development support to entrepreneurs looking to open or expand a brick-and-mortar business in Detroit. Applications are accepted quarterly. More information is available at www.MotorCityMatch.com.