This story was originally published on Spotlight Delaware. In 2017, then-newly elected Mayor Mike Purzycki sat on a stage close by to Velda Jones-Potter as she gave her inaugural speech as Wilmington City Treasurer. The two held an amicable relationship at the time, Jones Potter said – with both of them new to being elected politicians and facing a city that …
New Castle County is on its way to being given 30 acres for a park in the Mill Creek area. The land is part of a country club known as Hercules when it opened in 1937 (that’s why the road it’s on is called Hercules Road) and then Delaware National before being sold, with housing planned. “The project was approved …
The Friendly’s restaurant in the Brandywine Town Center is closing, James Phipps’ post in the Take Back Claymont group on Facebook read, and the first two responses were simply “Wow” and “Whatttttt.” The news was confirmed an hour later by Betty Baudoux. “I stopped there tonight … [and wished] the hostess n waitress well. They told me n a friend …
Development has finally begun on the site of what was the oldest building built for free public education in the United States. The Forwood School, which was built before 1800, was knocked down months ago, and plans are to use its stones in a leasing center. The development is on 11.7 acres in the heart of Brandywine Hundred, on Silverside …
Community feedback has inspired tweaks to plans to redevelop the Brandywine Town Center. “They want to elevate the look, the feel and the offerings” in the area closest to Naamans Road, said Mike Hoffman, of Tarabicos, Grosso & Hoffman, the Delaware land use attorney for the Acadia Realty Trust. “It should be the front door and the heart of the …
The news coverage of what’s happening at the old Tri-State Mall (which closed in 2015, leaving a small strip shopping center still running) has largely ignored a store that’s thrived there since 1984. Tri-State Liquors is still in business, as several signs on chain link fencing along Naamans Road proclaim, and it’s planning to move soon across the parking lot to …
New Castle County has decided to update the Newark Free Library on the same site. The new, two-story building will have 50% more interior space, and there will be 80% more parking, Diana Brown, manager of the county’s 10 libraries, said this week. “Details of what will be inside will be developed with public hearings this year,” Out & About …
A developer has sold 28 acres in First State Crossing, a multiuse Claymont site that once housed a steel plant, and the buyer will build a 358,000-square-feet warehouse there. First Industrial Realty Trust is planning a rear-load facility with 68 dock door positions, a 40-foot clear height and parking for 241 trailers and 289 cars. The land is on the …
New Castle County on Monday was given a draft plan by consultants to expand — and increase — the impact fees charged for development. The county adopted such fees in 1999 to “finance new or expanded infrastructure and service needs for development.” And they have not changed much since. The county’s consultants recommended adding fees to encourage low-income housing and …
