Businesses looking to open up shop or expand in Delaware may find some New Year’s luck in Kent and Sussex Counties as more warehouse space begins to open up in hot spots across both segments of the state.
Kent Economic Partnership (KEP) Executive Director Linda Parkowski told the Delaware Business Times that business is booming in her neck of the woods, citing several current projects in the works ready for new action in the coming year such like business parks in Harrington and Dover, as well as a new project at the former Felton Drive-in.
“It means there is opportunity. It means that we are in a really good location. We have a good workforce for the type of companies that are coming in here. I just see us thriving in central Delaware,” she told DBT.
Harrington Business Park is amongst the newest opportunities, boasting 131 acres next to the local railroad. While a lumber treatment facility is already on the books for the location, owned by one of the landowners, Parkowski and other local leaders say there’s plenty of room for more businesses as the area will be subdivided into 11 different parcels.
To make it happen, the city of Harrington received confirmation of a $3.4 million grant via congressionally directed spending, as well as $1 million from the tax-payer backed Delaware Site Readiness Fund from the Council on Development Finance.
Another hot spot for business activity in central Delaware is the 390-acre Garrison Oak Business Park which is near capacity as companies look for opportunities with larger acreages.
“That one [Garrison Oak] is almost sold out – that’s a success,” Parkowski said.
Garrison Oak Business Park currently houses German flooring company Uzin Utz which opened up shop in the park back in 2015, as well as security company Advantech and other businesses. Newer businesses to fill the area will include a 37,107 square-foot warehouse and bakery by Byler’s Country Store through White Oak Warehouses, LLC on 15 acres of land and a 165,000 square-foot climate controlled cold-storage warehouse by Israeli asset management firm Structured Liquidity Solutions (SLS) Partners.
Commercial Moving Experience Realtor and state Representative Jeffrey Spiegelman previously told DBT that the growth is needed and wanted in the state’s capitol city, agreeing that the opportunities continue to generate a significant amount of interest in the business community.
“Dover is really well positioned for warehousing and distribution like this, so bringing in these kinds of businesses at this level is a huge jobs boost to the city and for central Kent County. We’ve been very happy that we’ve been able to do what we’ve been able to do with the Garrison Oak Business Park,” he said.
Dover has several other incoming projects for prospective developers, such as the East Dover Industrial Park off of Horsepond Road and Lafferty Lane – the area currently houses a Frito Lay location and a new logistics center which will take up about 30 acres of land.
“There’s a need,” Parkowski told DBT on why more business opportunities via parks and warehouses is crucial in Delaware. She pointed to another another warehouse-type facility in Dover that is 100% leased by multiple tenants – a 270,000 square-foot building that previously occupied water cooler manufacturer Sunroc Corporation before its doors closed in Dover back in mid-2005 as it moved operations to Mexico.
But for leaders in the area, it’s not all about space – it’s about what can be accomplished inside those spaces.
“Jobs are being created and these are jobs that maybe [our] children could work at, jobs that are well paying. We recruit companies that are going to produce well-paying jobs or help companies expand that have well-paying jobs,” Parkowski said. “There’s going to be secondary benefits for [the community]. We’re having an impact.”
In Sussex County, Seaford Director of Economic Development Trisha Newcomer said things, especially for her town which seems to be facing a revitalization effort between developments at the Nylon Capital Shopping Center, as well as West Sussex Business Campus.
Seaford once had DuPont and employed over 4,000 people in the nylon plant. Once it closed for business, the city’s economic landscape changed overnight. But with many projects, including the 243,000-square-foot Nylon Capital Shopping Center and the Western Sussex Business Campus, city officials believe there’s more opportunity for hundreds of jobs and communal spaces.
“It can only get better from here and we’re ready for it because there are so many people in surrounding areas, too. We used to be a regional hub and we can be that again,” Newcomer told DBT. “People having the opportunity to have well-paying jobs is a ripple effect. It’s going to affect shopping, housing, the economy as a whole.”
Of the newer development at the Western Sussex Business Campus which was separated from the Ross Business Park to support future growth, two 70,000 square-foot buildings are planned which could hold up to 17 different tenants.
“When someone asks, ‘Do you have anything shovel ready,’ it’s nice to be able to say, ‘We sure do,’” Newcomer said. “We were very fortunate to have the council members we had in the 80s who had the forward thinking to establish more business parks. Certainly there’s been a lot that Seaford has had to overcome. We were fortunate to not be that town that closed down when the big industry left. . . But now we have the opportunity to diversify. I think it’s better to have ten 100-people businesses than one 1,000-person business. We’re on the way up.”
