Downtown is thriving!

The July issue of Out & About magazine includes a great article about the life and activity we're seeing in our Downtown.

Here's just a couple of excerpts:

By the end of August, BPG will be renting apart­ments in the three build­ings of its Market Street Village: 838 N. Market, the former WSFS Bank head­quar­ters; 839 N. Market, over the Walgreen’s store; and 6 E. Third St. Many of the new res­i­dents are expected to be teachers and staff mem­bers at three charter schools opening this fall: Delaware Met at 920 French St.; Great Oaks in the Community Education Building, 1200 French St., and Freire, in the former Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Delaware head­quar­ters on West 14th Street. Depending on income levels, res­i­dents of Market Street Village may be able to rent a one-bedroom unit for about $800 a month. The 150 units in these projects should add about 200 res­i­dents to Market Street.

...

By next spring, Scott Morrison and Joe Van Horn, part­ners in the Chelsea Tavern and Ernest & Scott Taproom, expect to open their third restau­rant on Market, which helps explain why the brew pub/barbecue spot at 827 N. Market will be named 3 Doors. The other reason: it’s also three doors up from Chelsea.

Chelsea itself will be get­ting a new look as Buccini/Pollin tears down 817 N. Market, effec­tively dou­bling the width of the pedes­trian pathway between Market and Shipley streets, cre­ating an area that will be known as Chelsea Plaza. The remod­eled Chelsea will have win­dows and an entrance opening onto the plaza, where it will have an out­door seating area. Across the way, 815 N. Market will be repur­posed as home to sev­eral mini-shops that will also open onto the plaza.

Click Here to read the complete article.

All of us at Downtown Visions are excited to be a part of this growth.

Marty

Zipcar in Wilmington

Zipcar is now available in Downtown Wilmington.

This is yet another great move in the right direction for our city. For just a few dollars a month, men and women who live, work, and visit our city can have access to a car to get them to everywhere from the local grocery store to a great concert.

Click Here to learn more about Zipcar and how you can join.

Click Here to see the video story from WDEL about this exciting new development.

There's a lot of exciting things happening in our Downtown Wilmington.

Marty

Great article on Downtown building projects

The News Journal published an article about the new architecture and spaces we're seeing in Downtown Wilmington as developers use the great structures in our city to create exciting new places to live and work.

Here's an excerpt:

developers are seizing the opportunity to reuse these buildings and attract new, younger residents to Wilmington's center.

City officials welcome the change, saying they will look at any proposal that will put to use these buildings and build up activity and revitalize downtown.

Click Here for the complete article.

I hope you get the opportunity to check out the growth and changes happening in Downtown Wilmington.

Marty

New opportunities for code training

Did you know there's currently only a handful of schools in the United States dedicated to teaching people how to code? So far, those schools are located in New York City, Silicon Valley, and Chicago.

This fall, we will see Zip Code Wilmington right here in Downtown Wilmington.

This is an incredible opportunity for people in our community. An individual can go through this school in 12 weeks and immediately be placed in an apprenticeship program with the potential for a new full-time position making more than $70,000 within a year.

Our friends at The Kitchen put this video together to explain the whole thing:

I would encourage everyone to check out the Zip Code Wilmington site by clicking here.

Great opportunities are coming to Downtown Wilmington!

Marty

Our views in the Delaware Business Times

Recently, the Delaware Business Times ran a pretty good piece about Downtown Wilmington and I was given the opportunity to comment on it.

Here's what I submitted:

I appreciate the recent article in the Delaware Business Times by Kathy Canavan about the investments being made in Wilmington’s Central Business District. The title referenced a tipping point – and I think that is a very appropriate description of what is happening in Downtown Wilmington. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, refers to “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”

In the case of Downtown Wilmington, we’ve been approaching that tipping point at a quickly accelerating pace these past few years as several key pieces have fallen into place. We’re seeing renewed life Downtown, from exciting new retail shops and restaurants to entertainment venues to new residents moving in and calling Downtown their home.

I’m proud of the work being done by so many in this community to make the improvements we’re seeing. At Downtown Visions, we’ve partnered with our local businesses to improve the look and feel of Downtown with our Façade Improvement Program. We’ve worked with entertainers, food truck operators, and local farmers to create an exciting farmers market on Rodney Square. We’ve worked with the Grand Opera House and World Café Live at the Queen to bring quality entertainment both in those great venues and on the streets. We’ve worked with some of the largest employers in the city to make sure the men and women who work here know about all of the opportunities they have to engage with the community. We’ve worked with our city and state government officials to improve safety Downtown through our video monitoring system and Safety Ambassadors.

But the great thing about a tipping point is how quickly everything grows and spreads. In addition to all of the ongoing events and programs listed above, we’re busy planning more – more events, more concerts, more art, more beauty, and more partnerships. We all benefit greatly from working with organizations like the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Delaware Economic Development Office, Wilmington Renaissance Corporation, the IN Campaign, the city of Wilmington and all of its divisions, the Buccini/Pollin Group, the Creative Vision Factory, Gable Music Ventures, and others to create magic for all who live, work, and play in Downtown Wilmington.

What’s really impressive is seeing this great mix of data-driven science with mad-capped inspiration coming together to make so much of this happen. We have teams gathering and studying data on every business and every building in our Downtown area to implement best practices for those areas. Meanwhile, we have artists who come up with ideas for street festivals and events like Ignite Wilmington. , which sparks creativity and  gives people in Wilmington a sense of fun and community.

Yes, we are at a tipping point in Downtown Wilmington, and we have so many to thank for getting us to this point – I just hope everyone is ready for the exciting things coming to the area now!

Marty