Newark developer Angela Tsionas, who announced plans for a new $40 million luxury-apartment-and-retail center on the site of the 37-year-old Galleria Shoppes on Pennsylvania Avenue this month, said she will be speaking with the current tenants about how they could grow in the new space.
“I’ve been speaking with the tenants, and there’s still a lot of factors we need to discuss, but as each tenant goes through their terms, if I can keep them and they’d like to come, I’d like to hear a little bit of their vision for how they want to grow,” Tsionas said. “Some have mentioned to me that they might have a little bit too much space now and they might want to come back on a smaller scale.”
Tsionas, who said she has developed projects on Newark’s Main Street and feels Pennsylvania Avenue is the Main Street of Wilmington, plans to construct a five-story, mixed-use building and a parking building on the 1.5-acre lot next to operating railroad tracks. The construction would include 169 luxury apartments, shops, a swimming pool and a rooftop patio.
Tsionas said she hopes to complete the work by 2018. Her company has invested more than $100 million in downtown Newark, most recently a 24-unit mixed-use apartment and retail building on East Main Street and a 12-unit one on East Delaware Avenue.
Of the Wilmington site, Tsionas said, “I just think it’s a great location. It’s a real central corridor well-connected to Trolley Square, downtown Wilmington and Greenville.”