CHESWOLD – A former paint manufacturing plant is getting new life after a vinyl fencing manufacturer and one of its suppliers have formed a joint venture to acquire the facility.
Maryland-based Shoreline Vinyl and Utah-based Duratec formed 1886 Dover LLC to acquire the more than 163,000-square-foot manufacturing plant site that sits off U.S. Route 13. The joint venture bought the 51-acre property at 1886 Lynnbury Woods Road north of Dover for $4.25 million in February, according to county land records.
Together, the companies will reportedly create 88 new jobs in Delaware while also relocating two positions. The Delaware Division of Small Business estimated that the economic impact for the project will total more than $30.7 million.
According to its application to Delaware’s taxpayer-funded Strategic Fund, the Duratec jobs include 10 managers, five engineers, and 59 laborers, although the salary ranges for those positions weren’t disclosed. Shoreline reported that it would hire one manager earning an estimated $35,000 a year and 15 laborers earning an $11 hourly wage.
On June 29, the project received the financial support of the state after the Council on Development Finance unanimously approved a $10 million conduit bond issuance that would aid the acquisition, renovation and outfitting of the new plant. The companies also received a combined $268,823 from the Strategic Fund to aid their capital investment in the project.
Damian DeStefano, director of the Delaware Division of Small Business, noted that the funds obtained through the conduit bond are not counted toward the companies’ capital expenditure grants – ensuring that state-endorsed bonds aren’t receiving taxpayer funds in turn.
According to company officials, the bulk of Duratec’s work is PVC extruding, or the manufacturing of different PVC components using dies, while Shoreline is a fabricator that prepares the PVC fencing pieces for installation through drilling and routing.
Duratec is a subsidiary of 19-year-old, family-owned and -operated National Vinyl Products (NVP), which has grown already in its home state. In 2018, it built a $7 million, 30,000-square-foot production facility in central Utah that doubled its capacity and expanded its product offerings.
Shoreline is a 17-year-old, family-owned and -operated company based in Caroline County, Md., west of Milford. Five years ago, it moved into a 91,000-square-foot building that allowed it to double its workforce that prepares products for sale in nine states.
The site will also reportedly feature a third tenant, USA Fulfillment Inc., a Maryland-headquartered third-party logistics company that already has a Dover warehouse about 5 miles to the south of the planned Lynnbury Woods Road’s facility. Jobs created at its operation weren’t included in the 90-employee headcount, meaning the site will likely employ 100 or more.
The Shoreline/Duratec project will breathe new life into a manufacturing plant that supported dozens of employees in the Cheswold area for generations. PPG Architectural Coatings closed its paint manufacturing plant after 43 years in 2019, citing “ongoing efforts to optimize our supply chain footprint and better service our customers,” according to the Delaware State News.
At the time of its closure, 65 PPG employees manufactured interior and exterior paints, stains, caulks and adhesives and sealants for homeowners and professionals, including well-known brands like Glidden and Olympic Paints and Stains. The plant produced more than 10 million gallons of paint toward the end of its life.
By Jacob Owens
