DuPont announced Monday that the company will be moving its corporate headquarters out of Wilmington in July 2015.
DuPont will remain in New Castle County, but will be consolidating its headquarters at the Chestnut Run campus, where the company has maintained a presence since the early 1950s. In May 2012, the company opened a five-story, 220,000 square foot office building at Chestnut Run.
A statement from DuPont mentions that the company’s move will bring about greater efficiency, as the headquarters will be closer to the company’s other facilities. The DuPont Experimental Station and the Stine-Haskell Research Center also are located in New Castle County.
The Chemours Company, a company that previously served as DuPont’s Performance Chemicals segment, will assume ownership of the DuPont building in downtown Wilmington. Employees are expected to transition to the new location by mid-2015. It is unknown whether Chemours will use it for its headquarters.
Wilmington mayor Dennis Williams and City Council President Theo Gregory released a joint statement reacting to DuPont's decision.
"The DuPont Company has had a long and productive relationship with the City of Wilmington. We view their announcement today as part of the evolution of the company," the statement read. "We are eager to ensure that the move of the Chemours Company employees to Wilmington is a permanent decision and that these employees become a permanent part of the local workforce. The City looks at DuPont's decision to reorganize as one that can positively affect the future growth of the DuPont Company, and therefore have positive benefits for Wilmington, New Castle County and the region."