MILTON — More office and storage space will be in the works for Milton soon as local developer and restaurateur Eric Sugrue works through the site planning process for a property just off of the Milton Ellendale Highway near the center of town.
The Route 16 Five Property, LLC., the listed owner of the 5.18-acre lot which has been dubbed the “Dexter Property” in official records with Sugrue named as an applicant, is seeking final site plan approval to bring a 44-site office park to the area, according to documents found on the Town of Milton’s website.
The property sits across from a busy shopping center which includes restaurants, a Food Lion and other businesses. It extends from the highway to the corner of Mulberry Street and Cedar Creek Road, or Route 30, and was originally part of a single property of more than seven acres. After annexing part of that original property into Milton in 2021, the owner successfully requested a partition, formerly separating the future office park from a two-acre lot now located at 100 Milton Ellendale Highway which was purchased by Two Farms, Inc., or Royal Farms, for $1.45 million in 2022, according to Sussex County property records.
Over the past year, The Route 16 Five Property, LLC has received site approval letters from Artesian, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), the Office of the State Fire Marshall and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS).
A preliminary site plan was approved by the town’s planning and zoning committee in March with several conditions, including a board of adjustment approval which was given in May of this year after the company requested a variance on parking spaces due to an additional right of way requirement by DelDOT effectively eliminating space for some of the parking spaces previously required. In its resolution, the board of adjustment listed W. Zachary Crouch of David Bowen & Friedel, Inc. as the engineer and Sugrue as a “member of the applicant.”
While Sugrue is more famously known as the co-founder and managing partner of Big Fish Grill and now a published crime thriller author, he said branching out into the development realm is unique to his other ventures.
He also owns flex space in Rehoboth Beach near the main highway. Since that has gone so well, he hoped to replicate it in another area.
“The trick is finding land that is reasonably priced that can get the approvals based on the appetite of a municipality or county where it also has access to the major roads, water and sewer. Those are the things that are imperative for a good project,” he told the Delaware Business Times. “There’s just not a lot of these opportunities.”
But the new up and coming business park in Milton happened to be one of those gems for Sugrue.
“Milton is really in the middle of Sussex County. If we were to do this in Rehoboth, it eliminates people from let’s say Milton or even Milford with businesses in those other vicinities because they’re not going to want to drive to Rehoboth [for their office],” he said. “If you drew a circle around Milton – Milton is right in the heart of a lot. It’s 20-30 minutes from a lot.”
Sugrue added that along with the geographical location of his soon-to-be 44-space business park, local economics helped his decision to start building in the area.
“The area is growing. There are many small businesses that are either being started or are already existing that need a place to hang their hat,” he told DBT. “And we’ve already had a lot of interest in this space.”
The final site plan for the Dexter Property will be heard by the town council at its next meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 26. According to Sugrue, Royal Farms will commence construction soon and the Dexter Property will follow suit shortly after if the site plans are approved.
