MIDDLETOWN — Stoltz Real Estate Partners has filed plans for a nearly four million square foot warehouse off of a rural road in west Middletown.
Fresh off the announcement that Stoltz Real Estate Partners is working to build a massive Aldi warehouse in New Castle, the Pennsylvania developer has recently filed plans for a nearly four million-square-foot warehouse off a rural road in west Middletown.
The development firm received preliminary approval for a five-story warehouse off Middle Neck Road and not far from the U.S. Route 301 bypass in southern New Castle County. The project is named “301 Business Park South.”
Each floor would be 787,740 square feet in size, with additional mezzanine floors for automated equipment. In total, that would put 3.9 million gross square feet under one roof.
Stoltz Real Estate Partners, based in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., is known for developing the Blue Diamond Park that is home to the Amazon fulfillment center off the U.S. Route 13 as well as an 890,348-square-foot warehouse near the New Castle Airport.
Plans reviewed by the Delaware Business Times show 165 loading spaces and 643 truck trailer parking spots. The Delaware Department of Transportation has conducted a traffic improvement study for up to 500 employees, so any additional staff would require another review.
Details on the possible tenant for the Middle Neck Road warehouse were sparse. Richard Forsten of Saul Ewing, who represented Stoltz, told town officials that he was not permitted to discuss which company was considering the lease. He did indicate that “three parties” were actively investigating the site.
“It’s going to have a lot of robotics, and although we’re not at liberty to say today who’s going there, look for an announcement in the next few weeks,” Forsten said during a Middletown Planning Commission meeting. “These facilities are in very high demand in this segment of the market. There’s just not enough of these available right now, and we all know about the tremendous explosion of e-commerce and how it’s revolutionized our buying habits.”
In December, Stoltz sought preliminary plan approval for a 3.2 million square-foot building on the adjacent property, nicknamed 301 Business Park North. Those plans include 59 loading docks and 495 trailer parking stalls.
The development firm led by Keith Stoltz acquired 170 acres of farmland in 2023 for almost $6.5 million, according to county land records. It was sold by local farmer and developer Richard P. Money, who successfully petitioned Middletown to have the land annexed into the town years ago and filed plans to build two warehouses – one measuring about 1.05 million square feet and one measuring 480,000 square feet.
If the warehouse planned for 301 Business Park South is built as proposed, it would be close to four times that original plan alone. If the project comes to fruition, it would be the largest warehouse in Delaware, beating out the Amazon Boxwood Plant which has 3.7 million square feet.
Stoltz’s local legal counsel declined to comment on the Delaware Business Times for this report. Attempts to contact Stoltz were not returned.
Stoltz has become a prolific warehouse developer in Delaware in the last five years, and now the firm is in the spotlight as there is a prospect that Aldi could invest upwards of $550 million in one of the first automated warehouses in the United States at Blue Diamond State Park. The Council on Development Finance approved a $5.5 million taxpayer-backed grant for the Aldi project on Monday.
Middletown is already home to one of the first Amazon fulfillment centers in Delaware, and Breakthru Beverages recently opened its Delaware warehouse on Levels Road. The area’s profile was raised again when it was announced that WuXi STA Pharmaceutical would build a new campus not far from Breakthu Beverage’s new Delaware warehouse.
