The long, silent Garrison Oak captures the developer's attention
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Long Quiet Garrison Oak Grabs Developer Attention – Delaware Business Times
Katie Taebeling September 23, 2022
Dover — The spotlight shines on Garrison Oak Business and Technology Park, a relatively quiet area of economic growth in Kent County. His five lots of an undeveloped business park on Route 8 are being considered for at least three of his future owners, Dover city manager Dave Hugg told the Delaware Business Times. told tofour of
Garrison Oak, a 360-acre business park, has two tenants, including Uzin Utz. Much of the land remains vacant, but future buyers may change it. | | DBT photo by Katie Taveling
DOVER — The spotlight shines on a relatively quiet place for economic development in Kent County. Garrison Oak Business and Technology Park.
Five lots of an undeveloped business park along Route 8 are being considered for at least three potential owners, Dover city manager Dave Hugg told the Delaware Business Times. Four of which he has contracted with two separate owners and a settlement has been reached. The process will be completed for his one owner in November and his other owner in Spring 2023.
Prospects for the fifth lot have signed a letter of intent with Dover, which is not a binding agreement.
“So to speak, we’ve had a lot of prospects kicking tires over the last few years, and all of a sudden it got hot,” Hugg told DBT. And part of that is that interest in this area is very strong right now.”
Garrison Oak is a giant that Dover authorities expect, and to date it has two operations on 380 acres of land. A Dover official dreamed that in 1999, with state funds, he would spend $2 million to purchase former farmland from the Garrison family and turn it into a semiconductor chip manufacturing plant.
When those dreams didn’t come true, Garrison Oak attracted solar power plants, power plants, German flooring company Uzin Utz, and security systems company Advantech Inc. The park has 10 to 14 plots ranging in size from 10 to 15 acres.
For years, the Kent Economic Partnership has promoted Kent County as a potential logistics and manufacturing hub, due in part to its central location in the First State. The county is less than a day’s drive from 60% of the US population and is approximately four hours’ drive from four major cities.
up to date Rockport Analytics Research indicates that parts of Kent County are within a 3-hour drive of southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but the rest of the county is served by the Salisbury metropolitan area.
“I think the Dover area is generally hot because of its central location and great need for it,” Hug says. “In terms of employment numbers, details are yet to be worked out, but interest will likely be focused on flex space, primarily manufacturing and logistics with these prospects.”
What makes the Garrison Oak attractive to potential developers is that it’s shovel-ready and utility-equipped. This summer, a Delaware congressional delegation secured him $5 million in federal funding to build a substation that will generate more than 100 megawatts of power next year.
Dover also does not have much ready-to-build industrial land that has not yet been developed within the city limits. Some lands in Garrison Oak and East Dover remain in stock. KEP Executive Director Linda Perkowski told Dover leaders at a committee meeting earlier this month that her office has submitted the Dover site to prospective clients at least 150 times, and Garrison She said Oak was the most referred site.
However, the business park has long struggled to combine lots due to the drainage ditches that cut across them. Last fall, the Dover and Kent county tax courts approved the division of his $12,000 cost of engineering work to redesign the site. Hug confirmed that the engineering work has been completed.
The final major hurdle to overcome is the lack of direct access between Garrison Oak and Delaware Route 1. last year,Investigation Completed by the Dover/Kent Metropolitan Planning Organization, it emphasized improved highway access via the White Oak Road connective.
The proposal outlines a parallel road to Southbound Route 1, an existing interchange on North Little Creek Road, specifically to support airfreight and cargo operations through the Central Delaware Aviation Complex. The Department of Transportation then plans to upgrade Route 8 in fiscal 2025, according to Kent County officials.
“It seems like a chicken and egg scenario,” Hugg said. “If we don’t have a business, we don’t need to improve our roads, but at this point many people struggle to think of more.”
On KEP’s part, marketing is consistent and interest is steady. Parkowski told city officials on Sept. 14 that later this month his call to Garrison Oak’s site selector was set.
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