Creme-ing the competition: how an ambitious Greenwood Village child care chain redefines 'upscale.'.

• Author: Peterson, Eric

In one brand-new $5 million, 20,000-square-foot structure in Denver's south suburbs, you will find a fully functional television studio, a retail store, an elaborate computer network and a state-of-the-art closed-circuit security system.

But the building in suburban Lone Tree is not J.D. Edwards' new office tower, not another gaudy theme restaurant nor Park Meadows Mall. It is the flagship franchise of the world's poshest preschool chain, Creme de la Creme.

With its water slides, onsite children's barbershop, upscale gift store, "Trike Autobahn," 3,000 volume bibliotheque (library), water park, and hours from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Creme's target obviously is busy, affluent two-income south Denver suburban-area households.

Oh, and we forgot to mention the computer lab, the dance studio, the TV studio, the babbling indoor brook, the "Villagescape," the electric train, the gym.

Creme de la Creme has broken new ground for kids and their parents, either setting a new standard or stooping to an all-time low, depending on whom you ask.

In the Denver area, that puts President and CEO Bruce Karpas on one side of the question, everybody else on the other.

"It raises the bar for child care," Karpas said at Creme's Greenwood Village corporate headquarters. "To a certain extent, I don't believe we have competition."

Competitors and expert observers don't buy that.

"I believe in making preschool fun, but you can run over the edge," laughed Jan Spencer, director of Englewood-based Willows Child Learning Center.

Creme offers kids a room-to-room rotating schedule, like a high school, an innovative Sesame Street-like curriculum, and facilities heretofore available only to the Sultan of Brunei. It offers parents an onsite retail store, hair salon, film and dry-cleaning drop-off, longer hours, and full-time tuition payments that average $890 per month and range as high as $1,190.

That's why Kim Wamboldt, director of the more mid-priced La Petite Academy's Lone Tree franchise, said Creme posed no competitive threat. "It's geared more towards upper-class families,"'she said. "It's like the country club of preschools."

Greenwood Village-based The Village Development Center is priced at $552 per month, but director Theresa Leidenberger argued it is not all that different from Creme de la Creme. "We offer the same things - computers, gymnastics, a swimming pool, French class - and that's all included."

Leidenberger conceded Creme leads the snob-appeal race...