MILFORD — It’s a new day in Milford, according to newly elected Mayor Todd Culotta who said redevelopment has spurred renewed interest in the downtown area.
“The redevelopment is important because, in my opinion, downtown Milford is the gem of the city. A lot of people move down here and think this is the quaint charm of their new home. It’s imperative, as a community and through the government, that we ensure that the downtown is as developed as possible so it can be enjoyed,” he told the Delaware Business Times.
All of the hard work that makes it possible, he added, happens behind the scenes with the help of public-private partnerships driving business growth along with population growth. Milford has doubled in size, from 6,296 people in 1990 to 12,981 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census.
Culotta credits local developers like Zack and Marissa King for helping spur Milford’s revitalization. The Kings declined to give a firm number behind the improvements in downtown properties in Milford, but the couple has spent $1.5 million in acquiring them. The investment has brought more than a dozen businesses to the city as well as redevelopment in 400,000 square feet of space.
“The efforts [the Kings] have taken here have been phenomenal. I think it’s a wonderful thing that they’ve done. It’s their investment that allows the smaller businesses to open up and capitalize in the downtown,” Culotta told DBT.
The Kings bought 39 N. Walnut St., known by locals as Penny Square, for $400,000 in December 2021. There, the Kings have started a second innovative restaurant of their own called Fondue.
Penny Square also hosts several tenants including Shock Vinyl, Studio You Salon & Day Spa and Junebug’s Beauty Boutique. According to Zack King, the property will have several more spaces available for commercial rentals soon.
The old Derrickson Building at 27 S. Walnut which formerly housed Josephine Keir, LTD, now houses a few businesses after the Kings bought it for $735,000 in October 2022. Thanks to the King’s vision, businesses opened up shop including What To Ferment Meadery, The Village & Venue, The Cured Plate and Stewart’s Gourmet Candies & Snow Cones, and more.
They also purchased the old M&T Bank or Wilmington Trust Bank located at 1 NW Front St. for $400,000 in December 2021 with plans of turning it into an event and venue location.
Other nearby investments in Milford include the old Bean’s Furniture building at 614 NW Front St. for $305,000 in February 2021. Today, it now houses Not Too Shabby and GlassHowes.
“Most people think all business owners are cutthroat and they might think, ‘Don’t open businesses like mine near me.’ And, of course, thoughts are going to go through your head like, ‘It’ll show us down if they open,’ but the truth is: that’s just not happening,” Zack King said about working with his wife to be the driving force behind bringing what could be considered competing businesses to the area.
The couple first opened easySpeak Distillery in 2018, but later bought the building on 586 Milford Harrington Hwy for $1.1 million. Zach King said that since opening the distillery, he and Marissa have always welcomed new businesses in town, as all boats rise with the tide.
“Having more of the same businesses just keeps people here and it attracts people from neighboring towns because they don’t have it where they’re from,” he added. “It’s been steady for six years now and there’s been eight or nine restaurants opening up. I think restaurants are opening at the same pace of the growth. That benefits us all.”
The Kings agreed that welcoming new businesses, including those who move into their investment properties, is a smart move.
“We knew they’d be a value-add to the community,” Zack King said.
The powerhouse couple didn’t stop there, however – they also expanded their family by welcoming a baby girl to the mix in 2022.
“She is our whole world,” Marissa King told DBT. “We love Milford. We’ve made it our home to raise our family here. There’s not many places you can go anymore to get that hometown feeling and you get that here.”
While expanding their family’s business opportunities has been top of the list in recent years, the couple knew they couldn’t go at it alone. Enlisting the help of county and city leaders, as well as fellow developers, would become crucial in moving forward.
“We have a good relationship with the city because we’re doing things to improve the areas they want to improve, so they’ve been great to us. Help and getting enough people to accomplish your goals is always difficult,” Zack King said.
He named Dan Bond, who owns the Towers Bed & Breakfast and the Pikus Building or the former Lou’s Bootery, as a key player in their learning curve when it came to developing historic downtown properties such as Penny Square.
“Dan’s always got cool projects going, the old firehouse is next on his list. Dan actually helped us. . . fill out historic applications which was something I had never done before and guided us to downtown development grant programs,” King added.
Bond is a partner in De OZ Property Management, LLC. which purchased the old Carlisle Fire Hall location at 11 N. Church Ave. for $962,500 in March 2023. City records indicate that the business would like to renovate the building, adding 16 apartments near the Mispillion Riverwalk.
Mayor Culotta, who has done some historic preservation work for Bond in the past “to bring [buildings] back to its original glory” through his business Bay Pro Contracting, LLC., lauded the efforts to bring new life to downtown Milford.
For the Kings and their slew of growing properties, growth is the name of the game in Milford.
“There’s a lot of growth that can still be had, a lot of business types that are kind of missing from what a small town should have, and we still have a lot of calls from prospective business owners wanting to open spaces,” Zack King told DBT. As long as we’re getting those calls, we’re going to continue looking for properties that need help.”
