TROY — A daycare serving more than 100 children in Troy may be forced to close its doors in September, and parents are none too happy about it.

The Samaritan-Rensselaer Children's Center has operated out of 2213 Burdett Ave. for more than 30 years, providing daycare and other services including preschool to children as young as eight weeks old on through to kindergarten.

On Wednesday, parents received a letter from Deirdre Greco, the director of the center, informing them that their landlord, St. Peter's Health Partners, has decided to close the daycare on Sept. 15. The decision, she said, was made unexpectedly at the end of March.

The board began searching for a way to continue the daycare elsewhere, she said, and has been in negotiations with a company that provides daycare for more than 1,000 hospitals and universities across the U.S. Negotiations are currently under way with a developer who has identified a potential new site for the center, she said, but the earliest construction could be completed is September 2020.

"We have decided that we needed to let families and staff know by June if we had not finalized a plan," Greco wrote in the letter. "We expect to know soon if we have a workable plan which will keep the center open until a new building is completed."

Erin Pihlaja, a local woman who described the center as a "second home" to her 3-year-old daughter, said families will be out of luck if that doesn't happen.

"Six months is the standard wait to get into daycare," she said. "If you have an infant, it's even longer. You're sometimes looking at 12 months on a waiting list. What are you going to do if you're a working parent and no longer have child care?"

Pihlaja said parents and teachers are also angry and upset that St. Peter's offered them no explanation for the sudden closure, especially after a 30-year relationship.

"The least you can do is give the kids, the families, the teachers the courtesy of bridging the gap until they find somewhere else," she said.

The nonprofit healthcare system operates four hospitals in the region, including Samaritan just down the road. It also provides primary care, rehabilitation and senior services, and boasts 170 locations around the Capital Region.

In a statement issued Thursday, St. Peter's said the 92-year-old building that houses the daycare is in need of extensive renovations totaling about $3 million. It said it evaluated moving the center to another facility it owns, but that retrofitting office or hospital space for a daycare would be "prohibitively expensive."

It's seeking another organization that would be willing to take over and operate the center independently at another location.

"This was a very difficult decision, and we know the parents of children at the center may be saddened by the news," St. Peter's said. "We are very proud of the center, its incredible staff, and the outstanding care they provide."

The hospital said it's hoping to complete the transition process by September, but will be flexible with the date in order to smooth the transition for students and parents.