247 apartments being built north of Middletown

New Castle County Council is back from summer break, and that means some pent-up action on the housing front, including something that hasn't been seen in southern New Castle County for ages: apartment buildings.

But there's more afoot, as summer construction means fall openings. The Middletown Target has finally announced its opening date . A Chick-fil-A nears its opening date as well, as the company announces plans to tear down and rebuild an older Delaware location. A Wilmington brewery was bought by a prominent restaurateur . A property clears out homeless encampments in Georgetown in order to build housing.

And wonder of wonders, housing prices are actually falling slightly in Delaware. Here's what's going where in Delaware.

What's Going There in Delaware is Delaware Online/The News Journal's development newsletter, tracking what's coming to the First State. If you like what you’re reading, tell your friends it’s free to sign up here ​. Email tips, questions and brilliant story ideas to Matthew Korfhage at mkorfhage@delawareonline.com .

🏢247 apartments being built north of Middletown

A massive 347,000-square-foot mixed-use development at Boyd's Corner Farm near Middletown, has been approved yet again in a new form with some big changes. Those changes will amount to a big rarity in the vast tracts of large houses near Middletown: apartment buildings.

"It is, I believe, probably the first apartment complex built in unincorporated New Castle County, south of the canal, in over 30 years," said Councilman Dave Carter at the New Castle County Land Use Committee meeting on August 27, presenting the plan in his district.

This patch of land along the southwest corner of DuPont Parkway and Boyds Corner Road has been due for one form of development or another since since the 1990s – and was approved in 2011 for a mid-sized shopping center. But as more and more shopping centers come online near Middletown, and demand for rentals grow, the current apartment plans have come to light.

The new plan from developer AZB Commercial calls for three-story apartment buildings totaling 274 units, in addition to 15,000 square feet of retail, 6,480 square feet of offices, and 6,040 square feet of amenities.

Bill Bell, a councilmember for neighboring District 12, opposed the apartments. He spoke in both council and committee meetings about homeowners near the proposed development who now can see the sun rise from their homes, but would now be forced to see three-story buildings. He said traffic had already become unworkable.

"You drive up Delaware Route 1 in the morning, and you would think you were on the Long Island Expressway or the Autobahn," he said in the Land Use Committee meeting earlier in the day.

John Tracey, the lawyer representing the developer, said traffic in the immediate area would be lower with housing than if the shopping center were built.

Councilman George Smiley seemed less than convinced by citizens worried about the view from their house. He noted that those new large houses on former farmland once spoiled the view for someone else. Now, those new residents are upset they have to see housing built for those who couldn't afford the houses they enjoy.

"It's about time," Smiley said – about time that rental housing arrived south of the canal.

Bell questioned strongly whether the new housing would be affordable for even middle-income residents, a concern echoed by councilmen Penrose Hollins and Jea Street.

Councilman David Carter called the rents, estimated at near $2,000 on one-to-three-bedroom apartments, "as close to affordable as we see south of the canal." Even at these prices, those apartments would relieve rental pressure elsewhere in the market, Carter argued.

Carter acknowledged that many in his district won't behappy to see apartment buildings. But rentals are currently so scarce that new rental buildings fill up months before they're even finished, he said, saying more rentals are quite simply a dire need.

Bell was the sole "no" vote on the mixed-use development, saying the apartments did not comport with the community character of the former farmland, which has filled over the past decade or two with large single-family homes. Penrose Hollins, council president pro tem, specifically cited diversified housing as the reason he was voting yes.

In the end, the apartment buildings were approved: 247 apartments are likely coming to the former farmland north of Middletown.

🐮Newark-based organic dairy Natural by Nature gets $858,400 in state money for new equipment

Natural Dairy Products Corporation – a 30-year-old organic dairy company in Newark, Delaware, best known as the producer of Natural by Nature milk products – has become the newest recipient of a novel grant by the state of Delaware – one designed to help existing businesses grow.

Natural Dairy Products Corporation was approved been approved for up to $858,400 in funds from the state Modernization Investment Support Initiative (MISI), which will help fund a total of $4.3 million the dairy says it needs to replace decades-old filling machines for quarts and half gallons.

“Agriculture is Delaware’s number one industry. Natural Dairy will use this grant to upgrade their equipment and stay competitive,” said Governor John Carney. “This is what the Modernization Investment Support Initiative is designed to do – help companies like Natural Dairy stay and grow in the First State.”

The MISI pilot program,w hich began in 2023, is an intitiative proposed by the public-private development agency Delaware Prosperity Partnership, as well as the state Division of Small Business.

Up to $5 million of Delaware's Strategic Fund, the state's main pool of incentive money previously earmarked for business attraction and job creation, can now be used on companies that aren't boosting jobs or salaries. Rather, the $5 million in MISI money is earmarked to help companies keep current jobs.

The first recipient of the new program, New Castle County machine parts maker High-Tech Machine , was approved in December for $219,525 to update its manufacturing equipment. Both the High-Tech and Natural Dairy grants were supported by DPP, and granted by the state's Council on Development Finance.

In its application, Natural Dairy said its aging equipment had caused caused it to lose contracts, and that it has had to lower production and cut employees as a result – in part because the old machines can't secure the longer shelf life the industry now demands. The company plans to replace its old quart and half-gallon filling machines over the next two years.

The dairy, founded in 1994 by the MacArthur family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, moved across the state line into Delaware in 2013 after the state provided about $275,000 in incentives from the Delaware Strategic Fund. Company officials also say they were enticed by state utilities and Newark's strategic position along I-95.

At that time, the company invested in a new 30,000-square-foot facility in the Sandy Brae Industrial Park off Markus Court, where the company makes a variety of dairy foods under its Natural by Nature brand, including milk, butter, yogurt, buttermilk and cream.Current owner Stephanie McVaugh said the new machines funded in part by the Strategic fund will be pivotal to further success in the state.

“In the past few years,” McVaugh said, “our team became very aware that adding shelf life to our fluid products through modernizing our equipment would be the key to our future growth and success.”

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 247 apartments being built north of Middletown