Buccini/Pollin to build more apartments and retail on Market Street

WILMINGTON – Buccini/Pollin Group has acquired three new properties totaling over 60,000 square feet on Market Street that the company will redevelop into apartments over ground-level retail space.

A building at 829 Market Street will be converted by Montchanin Design to house seven open-floor-plan studios and one-bedroom apartments. The ground-floor retail space will house a restaurant. The company said it is finalizing the lease with the new operator.

The second newly acquired building is located at 2 E. Seventh St., at the corner of Seventh and Market streets. The redevelopment will be designed by Studio JAED and constructed by BPGS Construction. The project will include an extensive exterior renovation that will bring back a level of historical detailing from the property’s days as Snellenburg’s Department Store, compliment the company’s other recently developed building on the 600 block of Market. The building will house 15 one-bedroom and one-bedroom-den apartments as well as corner retail space on the ground floor. The new retail space sits directly across the street from Market Street’s first Starbucks store, which is currently under construction and set to open in early October.

The third new acquisition is a seven-story building at 200 W. Ninth St., the corner of Ninth and Orange. It sits directly west of the company’s The Residences at Mid-town Park construction site. The art deco building was designed in the late 1930s by local architect G. Morris Whiteside. The redevelopment is being designed by Homsey Architects and will be constructed by BPGS. The office building will be converted to 30 one-bedroom apartments above three ground floor live/work units, which offer sidewalk-accessible office/studio spaces with living quarters behind.

The 33 apartments, combined with the 198 apartments being built at the Mid-town site, will bring hundreds more to live on Market Street.

“We are excited to continue the growth of downtown apartment living and additional neighborhood amenities such as the Starbucks to support the residents,” Robert Buccini, co-president of the Buccini/Pollin Group, said. “We are seeing a trend with each wave of new residential activity, a corresponding wave in retail activity. The Starbucks is only the beginning of the latest retail wave.”