NY Times: Millennials Driving Apartment Boom In Wilmington

Wilmington is becoming quite the hot spot for young professionals.

In Delaware’s largest city, about 30 miles south on I-95 from Philadelphia, the downtown is expanding with several hundred apartments on the way.

These new apartments, profiled in a New York Times article this week, are aimed at millennials who are “driving increased demand for city-center living, car-free commutes and transit oriented development in cities around the country,” the article states.

To build these residential units, developers are taking vacant or underused buildings and either demolishing or renovating them.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/philadelphia-real-estate/NY-Times-Millennials-driving-apartment-boom-in-Wilmington.html#LYzMk5JseugGvOJ3.99

DuPont Co. Leaving Wilmington

DuPont Co. says it is consolidating its headquarters offices, located since the World War I era in a high-rise complex fronting the north side of Rodney Square in the heart of Wilmington, to the company’s suburban Chestnut Run Plaza complex west of the city, effective July 1.

NEW: The company plans to move between 800-1,000 workers from the DuPont Building out to Chestnut Run; another 800-1,000 will remain, for the time being, with DuPont’s Performance Chemicals business, spokesman Daniel A. Turner told me. DuPont is spinning off that unit as part of a new company, Chemours (they say it “KEM-oars”), which has not yet chosen a permanent headquarters. Company statement here.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/DuPont-pulling-HQ-out-of-Wilmington.html#XDMgTWZSU6ZmDILo.99

Cities Deploy Fakery Techniques To Cover Up Urban Blight

Camden, New Jersey, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden U.S. cities, has awaited rebirth for a generation. For now, it has Christopher Toepfer and his paintbrush.

Ten feet up a ladder, Toepfer, a 51-year-old artist, is turning a rotting factory’s plywood-covered windows from a mess of gang graffiti into a railroad mural. The spruce-up, though it won’t cure the neighborhood’s ills of poverty and violence, will make a bright spot of the biggest blight on Federal Street.

Thirty years after New York City Mayor Ed Koch drew scorn for gussying up uninhabitable Bronx tenements with decals of curtained windows, urban fakery is spreading in U.S. cities where the recession’s wave of foreclosures added to decades-long decay. The city of Wilmington, Delaware, used the decal approach on a string of row houses earlier this year, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, started working with local artists in October to adopt Toepfer’s approach.

If the technique that Toepfer calls aesthetic board-up is a stopgap, it’s a cheap one, costing just $500 to $1,000 per property, a fraction of demolition costs. It’s also immediate, with a typical makeover done in less than a day.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2014/07/05/Vacant-House-Fakery-Reborn-as-Cleveland-to-Camden-Fight-Blight/stories/201407040018#ixzz36bqH18zQ

These Are America’s 10 Most Dangerous Small Cities

If you’re hoping to escape from big city crime, look elsewhere. These places actually defy the stereotype of smaller cities being safer.

When you see small towns on TV and in movies, they’re almost always idyllic places where the American dream is thriving and neighbors all know each other. That, and unless you’re watching a whodunnit, no one’s ever the victim of a crime.

In reality, small cities are surprisingly similar to all the others, meaning that there are good ones and bad. While the Movoto Real Estate Blog has been writing lately about America’s safest places, we thought we’d switch gears today and look the small cities where crime is a real concern.

After studying more than 200 small cities, we’ve concluded that Wilmington, DE is the most dangerous in terms of crime. It’s joined in this dubious honor by nine other places to comprise our 10 most dangerous small cities in America:

1. Wilmington, DE
2. Canton, OH
3. Jackson, TN
4. Rocky Mount, NC
5. North Little Rock, AR
6. Pensacola, FL
7. Daytona Beach, FL
8. Homestead, FL
8. Lauderhill, FL
10. Warner Robins, GA

Read more: http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/dangerous-small-cities/

Wilmington, New Castle County Officials Hail New Police Strategy

Map of Delaware (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WILMINGTON, DE — As dozens of Wilmington and New Castle County police officers were sworn into adjoining jurisdictions Friday, officials championed a new level of cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

“We have to team up, we have to work together,” county police Chief Elmer Setting said. “And the idea that we’re driving up to an invisible line and turning around is not a good thing. We’ve got to be able to go over those lines.”

Those words might have been a bit of overselling the change, considering state law already allows police to pursue anyone suspected of committing a felony, misdemeanor or motor vehicle code violation anywhere within the state regardless of original jurisdiction.

Even with that in mind, Ken Haas, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware, believes the move could ease the tribalism and competitiveness often found among law enforcement agencies. That could lead to an increased emphasis on getting the job done instead of confrontations about who should get credit, he said.

Read more: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130504/NEWS/305040032/Crossing-lines-public-safety?nclick_check=1

Wilmington Man “Wanted To Kill Someone”

Image via Wikipedia

Police today charged a 24-year-old Wilmington man with abducting and murdering a Brandywine Hills woman Monday morning while she was walking her dog.

Dwight L. Smith of the 200 block of W. 36th St., told police he ‘clicked on’ Monday and decided he “wanted to kill someone,’’ a police arrest affidavit said.

So while driving a few blocks from his home, he struck 65-year-old Marsha Lee with his red Hummer SUV and shoved her inside while she pleaded for mercy, a police arrest affidavit said.

Read more: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111220/NEWS/111220011/Police-Kidnap-murder-suspect-wanted-kill-someone-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Local|s

Wilmington Trust Sold To M&T Bank

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Yet another local bank is being gobbled up by a larger one.  Wilmington Trust has been purchased, at a very discounted rate, by M&T Bank after being bailed out in 2008 by the federal government.

Wilmington Trust made a profit every year from 1903 to 2008 when they lost their proverbial shirt on construction loans.

For those of you who like trivia, M&T Bank and First Niagara Bank are both Buffalo, NY based banks and have recently purchased Philadelphia area banks.

Once the sale goes through next summer, Wilmington Trust branches will be renamed and M&T Bank will become Delaware’s largest bank (deposits).