The new Harrington industrial park will receive a $700,000 grant

HARRINGTON — Developers working on a new industrial park in Harrington received $700,000 from the State’s Site Readiness Fund Development Finance Council (CDF) Monday, hoping to target small to medium businesses in Kent County.

The industrial park at 17959 S. DuPont Highway will be less than a half-mile south of the Rising Harrington Industrial Park on Clukey Drive.

Developer Chris Coviello purchased the 13 acres of land in September 2023 for $700,000 and has worked his way through the City of Harrington’s permitting process to clear the way for construction. Construction is expected to start within the next twelve months.

The industrial estate is tentatively planned for three buildings spread over the two combined plots. In total, it will bring 76,500 square meters of industrial and commercial space online, with buildings ranging between 1,500 square meters and 52,500 square meters.

The Site Readiness Funds will be used for site work including engineering, road construction, sewerage, water and stormwater management. In total, the cost of preparing the site is expected to be more than $3.2 million, with Coviello financing half of it.

“Industrial space remains a hot commodity in Southern Delaware and this project will attract new jobs and investment to the city,” Delaware Prosperity Partnership Vice President of Development Becky Harrington told the CDF on Monday.

Coviello told the council, which is charged with weighing which businesses would receive state taxpayer subsidies, that he is close to securing a $3 million loan from Shore United Bank. However, until the industrial park is built, he would bear the majority of the costs.

“I don’t have a problem with that, sometimes you have to spend a little,” he said. “We already have potential people buzzing us, from Amazon to different companies, which is great. We are quite excited about the progress, but we cannot move as quickly as other agencies.”

Harrington will not allow this second business park to be built on septic systems, so the $3.2 million will be spent, among other things, on extending a sewer line to the main by 2,100 feet.

The proposed industrial park fits neatly into Kent County’s economic development efforts, Knows economic partnership (KEP) Business Developer Zach Prebula said.

Two separate studies commissioned by the KEP in 2018 and 2022 have confirmed that small to mid-sized manufacturers and distributors are the ideal business target for central Delaware. The most recent version of the survey shows a demand of $939 billion and a need for 2,913 jobs.

“Manufacturing and warehousing are a good place for Kent County, but our current inventory does not support the growing demand for these businesses and industries located here,” Prebula said. “This project will help us attract businesses and create jobs.”