Newark Avon site redevelopment to begin in fall with new apartments and shops

Xerxes Wilson | The News Journal

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The retail and apartment redevelopment of the former Avon Products distribution property near Newark is set to begin this fall, the property owner told the New Castle County Council.

The County Council rezoned the property on Ogletown Road in 2015 to allow for 600,000 square feet of apartments, office space and stores, but progress on the development has been stalled by other factors since then.

"We expect to break ground in the next three months," said Jerome S. Heisler Jr., executive manager of Bear-based Reybold Venture Group XVI LLC.

Apartments, shops planned for ex-Avon site near Newark

Traffic concerns may snarl Avon project

Plans for the 42-acre property include three four-story apartment buildings encompassing 220 units. A series of one-story retail buildings will occupy about 200,000 square feet. The project also includes 93,000-square-feet of office space fronted by the distribution center's unique facade facing Ogletown Road.

"It is recognizable and a piece of architecture that is part of Newark," Heisler said. "We are going to keep that."

The property has sat underused since 2009. Avon had operated a distribution center on the property since 1958 but announced it was consolidating those operations in 2007. The property employed more than 700 people at its peak.

The center was one of several industrial losses in the area during the economic downturn — coming shortly after the shuttering of the Chrysler assembly plant in Newark.

Heisler said site-prep work will come first on a project that he hopes will be a two-year buildout.

The County Council rezoned the property from industrial to commercial use in 2015. One sticking point in the overall progress of the plan was state approvals tied to traffic on local roads.

Heisler said he has agreed to spend $1.5 million to add an additional southbound lane to the for less than one-quarter mile of the highway near the project. He said state transportation authorities have signed off on the plan.

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Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.