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Originally Posted by TallCoolOne
I think even bigger news long-term for the Wilmington area might be the expansion of the Claymont train station and redevelopment of the old refinery just north of the station....
"The Claymont station serves about 1,200 weekday commuter rail riders but its century-old structures are deteriorating and not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, officials said. It is the northernmost in Delaware with commuter rail linkages to Philadelphia and Wilmington.
The new station, with a Victorian brick facade, will have more parking and will be accessible to people with disabilities. It will be tucked between I-495 and the Pennsylvania state line along the railroad trucks just east of U.S. 13, a few hundred feet north of the current station.
The former Evraz Steel Mill is being transformed into a development called First State Crossing, a mix of offices, warehouses, and a logistics center for container shipping. St. Louis developer Commercial Development Co. estimates the 425-acre project could bring as many as 5,000 jobs to the area."
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/...owth/87700644/ |
It's actually really interesting what's happening in that pocket of DE closest to the PA border. Down by the Claymont Train station across RT13 from Archmere Academy, there's a bunch of new urbanist/walkable development going in on what I assume was brownfields. The old steel mill is coming down and I assume will be a part of the above aforementioned development. The last piece would be to get rid of that horrid shopping center that houses Value City/Burlington Coat Factory (can't remember which one it is) and the entire area North and East of 95 will have been remade in the course of 10 short years. I like to poke fun at Delaware, but I give it credit where credit is due. This area, historically, has been poorer and more downtrodden then every other area of North Wilmington (which is uniformly pretty upper middle class). However, it is arguably the best situated area of North Wilmington due to it's proximity to transit. Hence, this transformation.
It is also testament to centralized planning. New Castle County doesn't really have townships with local authority the way PA counties do. It is more like Maryland and Virginia in having County Authorities, School Boards, etc. So, it (New Castle County) probably decided it was high time to remake and densify the area and voila. It got done.