SANDPOINT — Only six months after opening their state-of-the-art childcare facility, Bren and Dave Hamilton say poor economic conditions have forced them to relinquish ownership of the Sunshine Center.

The $1.5 million, 12,000-square-foot childcare center opened late last year and has a 97-family client list.

Even with a healthy enrollment, the cost of doing business and a high debt load were too much to overcome, according to Bren Hamilton.

“Basically, the economy was not good enough to carry us,” Hamilton said. “I’m just a retired nurse and my husband is a retired military guy. We took on more than we could handle.”

New owners Kitty Eyestone and Pat Amstutz, who took over early this week, installed veteran childcare worker Deb Caplan as the center’s new director and will keep all but two of the center’s employees. Eyestone, a local Realtor, said for legal reasons the center has been renamed the Sunshine Kid’s Center.

Bren Hamilton said the decision to let the center go was bittersweet, but said she felt a moral responsibility to keep the facility operational, even if it meant giving up ownership. Under the transfer of ownership, the Hamiltons will be responsible for the center’s “sizable” existing debt.

“We had a choice to make,” she said “We could close the facility —  leaving the families and our employees without — and sell those assets and recoup some of the considerable amount of personal finances that went into it. Or we could basically turn it over, take that personal loss and give it a shot by allowing these gals to come in with some money behind them and try to make a go of it. So we chose the latter, but it wasn’t easy.”

Eyestone said the area’s poor economic conditions make any business venture difficult, but said she is optimistic about the center’s future.

“We’re feeling confident. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have done this,” she said. “I really think that with the economy, OK, it’s poor, but if we can hang on for a while, which I think we can, we’ll be fine.”

The Sunshine Kid’s Center is still accepting children of all ages. Call 265-5437 for more information.