The popular grocery store chain Wegmans is planning to open its first store in Delaware just outside the city of Wilmington.
The Rochester, New York-based company has signed a lease with Pettinaro Development to build a store at the intersection of Lancaster Pike and Barley Mill Road into a former DuPont complex. The store would be the anchor of a mixed-use development which will include other retail, two office buildings, 80 apartments, and 33 townhouses as well as 11 acres of green space.
Plans were announced at a community redevelopment meeting at A.I. DuPont High School Tuesday, February 19, 2019.
#BREAKING: Wegmans coming to Barley Mill Plaza in #Delaware as part of proposed mixed-use community. If approvals granted, store would open in 2022. #NetDE
— Amy Cherry (@acherry13) February 20, 2019
Also, the applause from the crowd might be the biggest positive reaction I have ever heard at a public meeting about a redevelopment plan in Delaware. I've been to a FEW of these meetings up and down the state over the years. #netDE https://t.co/GYRghYU0BU
— Joe Irizarry (@JoeIrizarry) February 20, 2019
The vacant office complex at the site still needs to be cleared. All plans still require New Castle County Council approval, and if granted, Wegmans would open in the spring of 2022. A preliminary plan will be first submitted to the county in the next two weeks with the hope of full approval in about 18 months.
"Wegmans is set up to hire about 400 people, so we think the overall permanent jobs or full and part-time jobs will be somewhere between 400 and 1300 when it's all said and done," said Greg Pettinaro. "We'll probably have between 400 and 500 construction jobs for about three or four year period."
Of the 400 jobs at Wegmans about a 1/3 of them will be full-time, and the store has promised to use Delaware contractors to build the facility.
The new Wegmans would be 8.5 miles south of the company's existing store in Concord Township, Pennsylvania.
In a written statement, County Executive Matt Meyer, applauded Pettinaro for re-imagining the Barley Mill site.
"I am encouraged that the proposed design better reflects the needs of the community," said Meyer. "Welcoming Wegmans, rated as one of the best employers in the country, to New Castle County as an anchor at this site is a win-win for the community."
