Here we go again: Developer to pitch plans for Barley Mill Plaza redevelopment

A developer will soon seek approval to redevelop Greenville's Barley Mill Plaza with upscale residences, shops, office space and an undisclosed "high-end" grocer.

Newport developer Gregory Pettinaro, who owns the now defunct DuPont Co. office complex at the intersection of Del. 141 and Lancaster Pike, will hold a public meeting next month to discuss his planned redevelopment of 56-acres of the complex.

The meeting is scheduled for Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at A.I. du Pont High School, 50 Hillside Road.

The majority of the office complex has sat vacant for more than a decade. Previous proposals to develop the property have ensnared local politicians and been fought all the way to the Delaware Supreme Court.

The point of the February meeting is to offer the public an opportunity to comment before the development-approval process, said Mike Hoffman, a land-use attorney with the firm Tarabicos & Grosso who represents Pettinaro.

The new plan

Details regarding the new proposal are scarce, but the redevelopment will consist of a mix of uses.

That includes some 313,000 square feet of non-residential space. That space will include "modern" office facilities and shops "anchored" by an unspecified "high-end" grocer.

The development will also include 33 "upscale" townhomes and some 80 "luxury" flats. The proposal does not seek a rezoning.

Hoffman declined to comment more specifically about the proposal.

In an interview originally published by Town Square Delaware and on his firm's website in 2016, Pettinaro said he envisions a mixed-use development at the site that is not as big as previous proposals to build on the land.

"I absolutely think the area is right for a mixed use development providing you don’t make it too big," Pettinaro said in the interview. "I personally don’t feel it can handle two million square feet of space. However, a smaller combination could be one of the best places in New Castle County."

His new proposal will still need to be approved by county land planners. What kind of traffic study the proposal will require is also unclear.

Hoffman's firm had not filed preliminary plans with the county's Department of Land Use as of Monday.

A decade of controversy

The property was the subject of numerous lawsuits and failed development plans over the past decade.

Stoltz Real Estate Partners, headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, bought the 92-acre former office complex from the DuPont Co. in 2007 for $94 million.

The company, headed by Keith Stoltz, touched off the most contentious battle in Greenville history a year later when it proposed three massive projects along the Del. 141 corridor, including a $525 million redevelopment of the Barley Mill Plaza.

The plan called for 700 apartments or condominiums, 1.8 million square-feet of office space and 731,000 square feet of retail space included stores, restaurants, a fitness center and a hotel.

Several wealthy and powerful residents of Greenville formed a well-funded group called Citizens for Responsible Growth that opposed the projects, arguing the plans would cripple traffic and forever change the bucolic landscape.

Background:

Barley Mill sold for about $40 million less

Stoltz sells off last of Barley Mill Plaza land

Del. Supreme Court hears Barley Mill Plaza case

A compromise was reached in 2010 that dropped the scale of the Barley Mill Plaza development to 1.6 million square feet of shops and offices, while eliminating the residential component. A rezoning of 37 acres along Del. 141 from office to commercial use was approved in 2011.

That led to the creation of Save Our County, a new group that sued New Castle County and property owner Barley Mill LLC in late 2011, claiming the rezoning violated state law.

Current County Executive Thomas P. Gordon joined the battle against Barley Mill Plaza after returning to office in 2012, a year before Delaware Chancery Court invalidated the rezoning and two years before the Delaware Supreme Court upheld that decision.

Land changes hands

Stotz sold off 35 acres of the Barley Mill Plaza property to Odyssey Charter School shorty after. The school developed a portion of the property.

A source with knowledge of the transaction said the school paid about $25 million for their portion of the complex.

It's the remaining 56 acres Pettinaro now seeks to develop.

He bought the remainder of the complex from Stoltz in 2016.

Real estate transfer tax records indicate Pettinaro likely paid about $27 million for the land and office buildings.

Transfer tax records are not always a perfect indication of sale price, but a $52 million return on the land from the Pettinaro and Odyssey deals would mean Stoltz could have lost about $42 million.

The property is unique because of its location along two major thoroughfares as well as being one of the last, large-scale properties in the monied Greenville area ripe for redevelopment.

Hoffman said it is a challenge his client takes seriously.

"Since purchasing the property, Greg Pettinaro and his team have tried to find a good balance of uses to create a good synergy to revitalize this property," Hoffman said.

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