Recent business changes in Dover include a longtime restaurant closing, a café moving, and plans for a new university building, two medical offices and a shared work space and meeting place downtown.
National chain’s Dover site closing after more than 25 years
Boston Market, which provided homestyle meals featuring their signature rotisserie chicken, has closed at 1151 N. Dupont Highway, next to Grotto Pizza.
The plaque near the front door lists the restaurant’s opening date as May 14, 1996.
While there’s no sign posted about the closing, the restaurant doors are locked during lunch and dinner hours, and no one answers calls to the listed phone number. A Google search for “Boston Market, 1151 N. Dupont Highway, Dover, DE” gives the restaurant’s hours and phone number and reads “temporarily closed.”
Calls and emails to the Boston Market corporation weren’t returned last week.
On the Dover restaurant’s Facebook page, the last entry was Jan. 18, 2023. Before that date, there were Facebook entries every two to three days.
Several other Boston Markets have closed in Delaware including at 1050 S. College Ave., Newark, 3603 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, and 3900 Concord Pike in Talleyville.
Boston Market, formerly known as Boston Chicken, was founded in 1985 in Newton, a suburb of Boston, according to the website Freshers Live. In 1998, Boston Chicken filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company was acquired by the McDonald’s Corporation in 2000.
“Initially intending to leverage Boston Chicken’s real estate, McDonald’s recognized the brand’s potential and decided to continue operating and expanding it. However, in 2007, McDonald’s announced its intention to explore strategic options for the subsidiary,” Freshers Live reported.
McDonald’s sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners in 2007, and then Sun sold the chain to Engage Brands, a subsidiary of Rohan Group, in 2020.
At its peak, Boston Market had more than 1,200 restaurants, but that number had shrunk to 321 in 2021, according to a Restaurant Business report.
Café on Route 13 moving south
Speedway Café on northbound Route 13 near Leipsic Road closed in May to move to a new location in Frederica.
The owners announced the change on Facebook and with a sign still posted on the door of the former restaurant at 737 N. Dupont Highway between the Tasty Crab House and the new Citizens Bank.
The sign thanks customers for their patronage and lists the new location of 7821 Old Beach Road, Frederica, which is in the Little Heaven area south of the Valero gas station near Route 1.
On Facebook Aug. 1, the owners said they are still working on the new location and haven’t announced an opening date.
The owners couldn’t be reached by phone, text, email or Facebook message before the publication time for this story.
Two 20,000 square-foot medical offices proposed
On the vacant southwest corner of Walker and Saulsbury roads near the Shoppes at Hamlet, two medical office buildings are planned, each two stories and 19,800 square feet.
The site plan was approved July 17 by the city planning commission for the Walker Road Professional Center Medical Buildings on about 2.6 acres at 101 Mont Blanc Boulevard off of Walker Road.
During the commission’s public hearing, a resident of the neighborhood near the site said she was concerned about traffic congestion.
The only vehicle entrance to the buildings will be on the west side of the property from Mont Blanc Boulevard which leads into the neighborhood. There will be pedestrian access from sidewalks along Walker and Saulsbury roads.
The Delaware Department of Transportation would not allow an entrance to the property from Walker or Saulsbury roads because it would be too close to the intersection, said city planner Julian Swierczek. DelDOT is part of the plan review and will be looking at traffic impact, he said.
The owner has to receive final plan approval before building permits can be issued.
The owner of record is Walker Pavilion LLC and the equitable owner is Walker Road Professional Center LLC.
Site plan approval requests for this site have been submitted before but nothing was built. The most recent proposal by Walker Pavilion was granted conditional approval by the planning commission in November 2020 with an extension until Nov. 30, 2023.
Planning commissioner Kathleen Welsh said the medical buildings are “a good use of vacant space on that corner” and “a needed facility for the city of Dover.”
Office and event space downtown
The Hive: Business and Event Center received conditional approval from the Dover Planning Commission July 17 to open a space for events on the first floor of the building at 28 W. Loockerman St.
The owner, Conekt LLC, plans to offer companies and organizations a place for meetings in the 2,493-square-foot space, focusing on the needs of small businesses. Examples include conferences with clients, workshops, employee training, photography sessions and podcasts.
The capacity will be determined by the fire marshal but is estimated at 50 people.
Swierczek said the owner already has a license to operate a business at this address. The conditional use application was for the event space. Next, the final plan has to be approved. Then the owner can apply for any needed permits and the license to hold events.
Planning commissioner Kenneth Roach said, “This is great addition to the city and a great use of that space.”
More Dover-area development news:Taco Bell, Crumbl Cookies, beer garden and more businesses coming to the Dover area
Building planned at Delaware State University
Delaware State University has proposed a 14,512-square-foot early childhood innovation center near the middle of the campus. The city planning commission approved the site plan July 17 for the university on southbound Route 13 across from the Dover Mall.
Next, the university must receive final plan approval before applying for building permits.
The university is proposing the demolition of part of a nearby building, R.S. Grossley Hall. The new childhood innovation center will be separate from the remaining portion of Grossley Hall.
An existing parking lot will serve Grossley Hall and the new building with 33 parking spaces, including five handicapped spaces.
The early childhood innovation center is a new initiative with the goal of redesigning Delaware’s early childhood education support model, according to the Delaware State University website. The focus is on “supporting educators holistically, improving access and removing barriers to advanced credentials such as the child development associate certificate and post-secondary associate or bachelor degrees.”
Reporter Ben Mace covers real estate and development stories. Reach him at rmace@gannett.com.
