A truck drives to the only existing building on the Duck Creek business campus. Smyrna officials received $1 million in government funds to support the installation of infrastructure on undeveloped land in the business park. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING
BEAR – The city of Smyrna received $1 million from the Site Preparation Fund Monday to set up the infrastructure for the next phase of its rise Duck Creek Business Campus.
The business park, which includes one building already occupied and three more being planned by the city, is Delaware’s latest applicant for the funds before the end of fiscal year 2022.
Duck Creek Business Campus is Smyrna’s premier economic development prospect as it has 206 acres of land suitable for building a warehouse or distribution center. Developed by KRM Development Corp., the entire property could have up to 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space and provide 4,000 jobs when fully developed.
However, KRM development President Jesse Parks and Smyrna officials seek to maintain the momentum to build on raw earth. The state’s million dollars will be spent on sewers, water, electricity and roads in undeveloped parts of the business park.
Duck Creek Business Campus is expected to represent an investment of $25.6 million, according to KRM.
“This is a project we are committed to, and these dollars will only speed things up,” Parks told the Council of Development Finance (CDF) at its meeting on Monday. “Either we have to wait for the dollars to come in to add the infrastructure needed to develop the land, or we can do it now and get it started.”
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KRM Development President Jesse Parks, left, and Smyrna Senior Planner Jeremy Rothwell advocate for site preparation funds on behalf of Duck Creek Business Campus. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING
Duck Creek Business Campus first applied in February for a Site Readiness Fund grant, but it stalled because Delaware’s Division of Small Business asked applicants to submit financials, the director of special projects said. , Patty Cannon. KRM Development is a branch of Dixon Valve & Coupling Company and declined to provide this information at the time. Instead, Smyrna filed an application on behalf of KRM Development.
In 2019, around 25% of infrastructure was installed to attract the first wave of development. It paid off because Procter & Gamble signed a lease to open in the first 70,000 square foot building at the Duck Creek Business Campus. A second building of 70,000 square feet and another of 113,000 square feet are also planned for the property.
In addition, Scannell properties received city approval to build a 337,137 square foot one-story warehouse for an unnamed tenant, which will bring about 610 jobs.
Smyrna’s lead planner, Jeremy Rothwell, declined to estimate how much water and sewer capacity the city was considering for undeveloped areas of the Duck Creek business campus, noting that capacity would be heavily dependent on the company. For example, a food processing company would use a significant amount of water compared to a distribution center.
Site preparation funds are intended to provide public funds for development projects that need utilities or funds for roadworks, engineering, surveys or other planning needs. In addition to Smyrna’s request, the CDF granted $8.2 million of the $10 million set aside for the funds.
KRM will fund $2.84 million for the infrastructure for phases two and three, and once the work is completed, the state will reimburse Smyrna for the $1 million match.
The Site Readiness Fund will have $800,000 available by the end of fiscal year 2022, which ends this week. The remaining funds will be transferred to the fund in fiscal 2023, according to Cannon.
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