WILMINGTON— The
Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG) cut the ribbon on its latest apartment complex, the 61-unit Humble Park built up from a city park in the Lower Market community.
Humble Park may be smaller and more humble than some of BPG’s more ambitious residential projects like The Press on Orange and Eighth Street or the Market West campus, but it also signals a new chapter for the Wilmington developer.
The $15 million complex is the last scheduled in the Lower Market community, and soon, BPG will have to start anew on projects in the city. Rob Buccini, the co-founder of BPG, indicated he’s open to the challenge.
For BPG the last decade has been marked with rapid redevelopment of older buildings along the city’s business district with many conversion projects like the Cooper, MKT Place and Lincoln Square. Humble Park is the second new-build project for BPG in the Market Street Corridor after Crosby Hill.
“The thing I’m most proud about is when we started building down here on this section of Market street about a decade ago, all the buildings were vacant,” Buccini said in a ceremony ahead of the ribbon cutting. “Each one of these blocks was taken and under-utilized. I just couldn't be more proud.”
Inside, Humble Park has one and two-bedroom apartments with high-end finishes along with a fitness center, resident lounge and co-working space. The units range from 498 to 980 square feet with leases starting at $1,895 per month. The top floor has a rooftop terrace where residents can see the river as well as the high rises in the city.
Occupancy rate for Humble Park is around 15% since it opened a month ago and Buccini expects that the project will be “close to stable” when it comes to leases by spring.
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Humble Park has apartments ranging between 498 and 980 square feet in the downtown Wilmington. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING[/caption]
The first floor includes a small gym, complete with peloton bicycles and a mural designed by artist, musician and co-owner of Spaceboy Clothing Dave Sanchez. That was one of many touches to give a more laid back vibe in the building, including a neon sign that faces Fourth Street that reads “stay humble.”
“I think that really sets the tone when you walk in,” Buccini told the Delaware Business Times. “What I love about this building is that it hopes to be an energizing force for the neighborhood, supporting different retailers here.”
For years, development in downtown Wilmington has focused on the energies between Market Street and the Riverfront. But when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed people to work from home,
it activated a chain reaction on restaurants, event spaces and retailers that relied on people walking in from the street.
Wilmington Mayor John Carney, in one of his first public appearances since he took to city hall, said he sees Humble Park as a sign of the city’s progress from those dark days. He also cited his predecessor, Mike Purzycki, and told the Delaware Business Times, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying as a city.”
“Having people that are willing to risk millions of private dollars, not public dollars, is just so incredibly important,” Carney said. “If you look at the cities that are thriving and keep their neighborhoods safe, there’s financial institutions that are willing to take the risk of development and encourage people to move back into the city.”
With the completion of Humble Park, BPG still has plenty of projects in the works to keep it busy, including Market Street West as well as the former Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD) building on North Market Street. DCAD closed in early 2023 and later sold its five-story building to
BPG for $3.5 million which plans to convert it into at least 50 apartments.