WILMINGTON — The Kingswood Community Center will include a Nemours Children’s Health clinic once it’s built, providing pediatric care in the heart of the Riverside neighborhood in Wilmington.
As part of the $52 million construction for a new community center that will be close to five times the size of the current building, Nemours will have a 16,000 square-foot office suite on the second floor.
Nemours and The WRK Group, which manages the Kingswood Community Center, are still in discussions of what type of services would be provided there.
“There’s hundreds of children and families coming into the building every day,” said Logan Herring, the CEO of The WRK Group. “To have Nemours inside this new, state-of-the-art building, that’s an entrusted entity in our community. I think when you have two names [Nemours and Kingswood] that people can trust not a far walk away, that’s game changing.”
Nemours is one of the nation’s top-ranking pediatric health systems, with its Delaware hospital in the Alapocas attracting patients from the Brandywine Valley and from the Delmarva peninsula. The health care system also has 12 primary care offices in the state, and has a pediatric facility on the Bayhealth, Sussex Campus in Milford. Beebe Healthcare is reportedly looking at ways to expedite emergency cases from its future Millsboro facility as well.
“Achieving our vision starts with community-centered partnerships that address the conditions in which kids grow, learn, and play,” Nemours President and CEO R. Lawrence Moss said in a prepared statement. “In addition to providing exceptional medical care, Nemours recognizes that a child’s community has a tremendous impact on their health. The Kingswood Community Center’s holistic approach aligns with this philosophy, and by partnering together, we will create positive, lifelong health impacts for kids and families.”
The WRK Group, which has been driving the ambitious revitalization project for the northeast Wilmington neighborhood, credits much of its success so far to partnerships, like the existing relationship with Cinnaire to help finance the Imani Village. Herring credits a similar relationship with Nemours Executive Vice President and Chief Population Health Officer Kara Odom Walker to spark the partnership. Odom Walker, who previously served as Delaware’s Department of Health and Social Services secretary, recently joined the WRK Group board of directors.
“I give total credit to Kara for being our champion inside Nemours to help us get this across the finish line,” he said.
Last summer, officials broke ground on the new Kingswood Community Center to expand Early Learning Academy services for children, as well as the Jimmy Jenkins Senior Center for the elderly. The new building will be close to five times the size of their current building with leaders anticipating an opening date in late 2026.
In support of the new developments, Nemours lent the nonprofit a $13 million community impact loan back in March, essentially providing bridge funding to finance the construction.
In turn, the WRK Group placed that funding, as well as the money raised for the Kingwood Community Center, into a new market tax credit to yield millions more in equity through the sale of tax credits.
Herring said that the Kingswood Community Center is continuing to seek funds but noted that relationships like ones with Nemours have been instrumental in keeping the project moving forward.
Right now, the closest health facility to the northeast Wilmington community is the state service center on Jessup Street. It’s a 20-minute walk for residents in some of the most dangerous parts of the city.
Once the new Kingswood Community Center opens, some of the best health services in the region will just be a flight upstairs.
