FELTON — A new industrial park may be on the horizon in western Kent County, as a home builder seeks to turn the former Diamond State Drive-In into a $7.6 million business park in Felton.
The largest warehouse proposed by four developers, including property owner Jeffrey Garrison, would be 60,000 square feet, with the remaining other buildings would be at most 10,000 square feet in size. In total, the project nicknamed Felton Crossing would include 200,000 square feet of manufacturing or distribution space.
The Felton Crossing project was approved for $1 million in taxpayer-backed grants by the Council on Development Finance on Monday.
Six buildings on eight acres of land at the closed-down Diamond State Drive-In have already been approved by Kent County officials in May, the remaining 18 acres have yet to be approved by local agencies now that Garrison had recently acquired it.
For Kent Economic Development Partnership (KEP) Executive Director Linda Parkowski, the proposed Felton Crossing represents two critical things: local business owners continuing to pay it back to Kent County and added warehouses.
“What really excites me is that this project involves men who have done well and are investing back in our county and state, and this type of project is what we’re seeing a great need for,” Parkowski told CDF during its Monday meeting.
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Developers have proposed 200,000 square feet in speculative warehouse space off U.S. Route 13, including many smaller warehouses. | IMAGE COURTESY OF THE COUNCIL OF DEVELOPMENT FINANCE[/caption]
The land for the business park is now owned by Garrison, who runs
Garrison Homes with his father Charles Garrison. The family has deep roots in Sussex County, with the family once running Garrison’s Olde English Donut Shop on Rehoboth Avenue. Today, Garrison Homes is well-known for building custom homes in southern Delaware, such as The Peninsula in Millsboro, Hawkseye in Lewes and more.
The father-and-son duo are also in business with John Forrest and John Miller for Felton Crossing, according to documents filed for the grant proposal and reviewed by the Delaware Business Times.
For 50 years, the former Diamond State Drive In had been entertaining Kent County residents, and when it was under its first owners Mildred and Albert Steele, showing both movies and live entertainment. A roller rink was reportedly built on the property in the 1950s. The drive-in was later bought by a theater company in Baltimore, and it closed in the 1980s for a brief period. The venue opened for a final time in 1995 under new ownership - until the Steeles opted to sell the land in 2008.
As the site has been vacant for close to 20 years, it will need utilities and sewer access, which can cost thousands to millions of dollars. To that end, the CDF approved its request for a site readiness fund grant, to use the $1 million to add infrastructure to the site.
Once Felton Crossing comes online, it will be a welcome addition to the commercial realty marker in central Delaware, as the KEP has been bullish on bringing more flex space to the market to attract more manufacturers and distributors to Kent County.
In the last six years, KEP has studied top economic industries for the county twice and the results remained the same: Kent County should focus on warehousing and distribution.
The 2022 Rockport Analytics study found that there is a $939 billion demand the county can tap into, thanks to its central location in Delaware and on the East Coast.
