A long-planned project at the former Avon Products distribution facility near Newark is moving forward.
The Bear-based Reybold Venture Group has proposed constructing three apartment buildings, a four-story hotel and multiple retail and restaurant spaces. A two-story office building that will use the facade of the Avon building is also in the plans as submitted to New Castle County earlier this month.
The 45-acre site is along Route 273 just outside the Newark city limits. It includes the space the Avon building occupied along the roadway and a field and paved area behind it that extends to the railroad. The property is bordered by Lowe’s to the west and a forested area to the east.
Crews are moving dirt at the site to prepare it for construction.
Reybold has spent much of the last decade trying to develop the property. The county approved a rezoning from industrial to commercial regional in 2015. It approved subsequent development plans in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The most recent plan is similar to the previous ones, but substitutes some retail space for the four-story, 66-room hotel.
When asked why the time to move forward is now, Reybold Executive Manager Jerome S. Heisler Jr. said that “during COVID was the time,” but that marketplace is now “at a good point.”
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“Newark is a growing market,” Heisler said.
The city has a strong demand for rental housing, which is the first phase of Reybold’s project. There will be three apartment buildings constructed in the northeast corner of the property — two four-story buildings and one three-story buildings each built over parking. They will supply a combined 220 units.
Heisler expects work on the apartments to begin within about the next six months. He said they will be marketed to non-university students and leased at “market rate.” Amenities will include a pool, gym and a clubhouse.
Heisler said he isn’t sure what part of the project will come next. Plans submitted to the county indicate a two-story, 93,400-square-foot office building, a two-story retail space and a restaurant will come in the later stages of the first phase. The second phase includes the hotel and a retail space.
Plans also include a cluster of small retail sites next to the office building at the entrance to the development and a three-story parking garage.
The project promises to extend commercial development further down Route 273, an area that was once a mix of industrial space and farmland. It also adds to the list of residential projects targeting young professionals on the periphery of the University of Delaware campus, joining Fusco Management‘s nearby redevelopment of College Square and the Buccini/Pollin Group’s STAR Campus project off South College Avenue, among others.
Avon started operating on the property in 1958. It closed in 2009. The facility employed more than 700 people at its peak.
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Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.
