^Amen 3rd&Brown, growing up in this area- Claymont definitely was looked down upon by the snobby surrounding zip codes as run down, poor, white trash...etc etc. But times they are a changing.
The new urbanist development is called Darley Green - a mix of townhouses, and apartment buildings, with retail fronting Philadelphia Pike (Rt 13) across the street from Archmere Academy - or otherwise known as Joe Biden's high school to Delawareans. Also, Claymont Public Library (newly built) is within its borders. The development is huge - will be close to 1000 units in total. Construction slowed during the recession (and total units lowered from over 1,200) - but its been full steam ahead the last 2-3 years. Over 400 people have moved in, and the retail portion is beginning to lease.
Actually, this area wasn't brownfields previously, but a really, really run down Section 8 development of little houses/apts called - Brookview (drugs galore!).
Here's some info on Claymont's rebirth and Darley Green:
http://montchaninbuilders.net/darley-green/
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/...mont/75671072/
Totally agree - the shopping center you mentioned (mostly vacant) is the Tri-State Mall. That place was a dump by the mid-90s ... and by today -- it's just very sad. Given it's location so close to 95 and two Regional Rail stops ...Marcus Hook and Claymont, it seems like a perfect location for a major residential development.