FRANKFORD – A new partnership is creating buzz in Kent and Sussex Counties as they work to bring millions of square feet in warehouse space to the region.
Travis Martin of Chesapeake Plumbing and Heating and Brett Davis of Davis Strategic Development quickly bonded over their passions for development and now have six business or industrial parks in the works in southern Delaware.
Collectively, they bring a range of experience in construction, sales, internet networks, development and other trades to the table to support a variety of needs when it comes to new business and industrial parks. But that’s not all they need for successful ventures.
“We have good synergy outside of that, too. It’s fun to work with him,” Martin said of his partnership with Davis.
The pair started with just one facility in Odessa, but Martin said it merely “scratched an itch” as they heard about the statewide need for warehouse and business space.
“This is where the U.S. is moving to, or is trying to move to, and one of the national goals is to bring jobs back to the U.S. One of the issues you face in Maryland and Delaware, but specifically in Sussex County, is if you want to bring business to the area, where would you put that,” Davis asked.
They put the question to the test by leasing out their Odessa facility and then the Frankford Business Park which was booked out almost as soon as the pair put a sign out on the road with a phone number on it, Martin said.
“There were 4,354 housing permits issued in Sussex County in 2024. The contractor space demand that comes with that is just off the charts,” he explained. “And with that comes all these other supporting businesses like home security, miniblinds, electric fences and all the little companies that support the maintenance of the home. We have space for a variety of needs now.”
Now with upcoming space in Dover at
350 Lafferty Lane which recently received $700,000 in Site Readiness Funds from the Council on Development Finance through the state, as well as upcoming space in Smyrna,
Seaford,
Selbyville and Delmar and expanded space headed for
Frankford, Davis and Martin feel more prepared to help solve the statewide shortage of warehouse and business space.
[caption id="attachment_469481" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Brett Davis of development and brokerage firm Davis Strategic in Salisbury, Md., talks about plans for a possible warehouse complex north of Seaford. during a Council on Development Finance meeting. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING[/caption]
Their new flex spaces, coming in at a total of more than 2.5 million square feet, are among others that are currently being built in what seems to be a boom in availability as Milford begins constructing the new
Milford Corporate Center, development of three other business parks in Seaford continues along with the
Nylon Capital Shopping Center and
other locations start to crop up across the state.
Even still, Davis and Martin contend that none of the warehouse spaces being built at the moment are similar to theirs – and for good reason.
“There’s a shortage of that space and there is basically no one else building like this,” Davis told DBT, citing the site-ready spaces the pair is working to create, leveraging all their development-related specialties. He also said the flex spaces created by their partnership will not only have access to utilities, as many business parks do, but they will also come fitted with rooftop solar panels.
“These things are going to be extremely green with spray foam insulation, the best modern building techniques and solar technology,” Martin said.
In Seaford alone, where their incoming park will tout 1.2 million square feet of space for businesses, the rooftop solar field will be the equivalent of 28 acres while utilizing no land for that project, he added.
At 28 acres of solar panel space, the Seaford site alone could generate enough electricity to power between roughly 500 and 750 homes in the area, doing a small part to address another grave issue for Sussex County and the state of Delaware.
Davis’ company, Simple Fiber, will address another concern frequently seen in Sussex County – internet access. Each of the parks will come equipped with an underground fiber network, allowing for the larger area to also tap into internet access if it’s needed and wanted.
While the fiber network does not include cell towers, Davis said it has the ability to become the backbone to new cell towers in the area, something that could directly benefit Sussex County towns like Seaford and Frankford which have historically lacked quality, high speed internet access, among other things.
“So far, we’ve had the best reception possible from the state of Delaware and the cities that we’re working in,” Davis told DBT. “We’re not building something that’s getting tons of opposition. It’s really fun to know that when we come to these towns, they’re bringing us ideas, they’re working with us and the cities are giving us feedback. We need to bring some fresh energy to Sussex.”
