JAYKAL LED Solutions to relocate with help from $850K county loan

GEORGETOWN — JAYKAL LED Solutions, an international lighting company, is relocating operations and jobs to Delaware Coastal Business Park with the financial assistance of a Sussex County loan program.

JAYKAL LED Solutions will build a new headquarters in Delaware Coastal Business Park in Georgetown. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING

The LED light manufacturer has applied for a $850,000 loan from the ExciteSussex Fund to build a new headquarters and warehouse in the industrial park off Del. 9. Upon completion, JAYKAL will move from its U.S. headquarters based in Harberson, roughly 7 miles east from the growing business park. It could bring 30 jobs or more with it, according to county officials.

“We’ve been very selective about our projects with ExciteSussex from the standpoint of manufacturing companies and the number of jobs that they will bring,” Sussex County Economic Development Director William Pfaff told the Delaware Business Times. “At this point, we have recently closed on two loans, with three in the pipeline now.”

ExciteSussex Fund was started in 2018 as a $4 million joint venture with Discover Bank and the National Development Council to incentivize small and large businesses to move operations to Sussex County. Eligible businesses must have at least 10 full-time employees and have been in operation for at least two years. To launch the program, the county put in $750,000 left over from a previous loan program while Discover Bank put in $3.25 million.

Loan amounts range between $250,000 and $1 million with a 4% interest rate. The payback period ranges from 10 years, if the loan is used toward personal property like machinery or equipment, to 25 years, if the loan is used toward real property acquisition or renovation.

So far, the county has settled roughly $1.8 million in ExciteSussex loans, not including JAYKAL’s loan, Pfaff said.

JAYKAL is pre-approved for a $850,000 loan and agreed to lease 2.4 acres from Sussex County in August. Contractors have started site work, and county officials report that the goal is to finish construction within the year.

Founded in 2008, JAYKAL first focused on manufacturing LED lighting products for local, municipal and federal entities in developing Asian and Middle Eastern nations. Within three years, the company moved into the U.S. market and secured contracts with multinational clients like Coca-Cola and the United Nations World Food Program.

JAYKAL later expanded domestic parallel manufacturing capability in Danbury, Connecticut, through an agreement with UNICOR, a corporation owned by the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal clients include the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard and the Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

In 2014, JAYKAL relocated its U.S. office to Harberson and added 10,000 square feet of warehouse space. That allowed the company to shorten the lead time on projects in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to a company history on JAYKAL’s website.

For Sussex County, the international light manufacturer’s move marks the third successful tenant of the Delaware Coastal Business Park’s recent expansion. In 2017, county officials signed off on a $2.2 million purchase of the King Farm, which encompassed 74 acres near Park Avenue, to increase the size of the county-owned business park.

By adding 30 acres for commercial and industrial space, the county was able to boost the space of the 175-acre business park by 17%.

Over the course of two years, Sussex County has signed DGS Properties LLC, a flooring material company, and Atlantic Industries Corp., which produces plastic parts for military, medical, automotive, consumer and industrial markets.

“One advantage that we have at Delaware Coastal Business Park is that it’s ready-made sites, complete with infrastructure. Sewer, water, high-speed internet and natural gas, it’s all right there,” Pfaff said.

By Katie Tabeling

ktabeling@delawarebusinesstimes.com