The city of Milford breaks ground on a 27-lot business park.
The Milford Corporate Center is expected to bring 1300 jobs to the area.
Mayor Todd Culotta said that’s a big deal for Milford, a city of about 13 thousand people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“You're looking at almost 10% of the population and newly created jobs… This is a big investment, and this is a critical time for us to move Milford forward,” Culotta said.
The business park has been in the works since 2017, when City Council set a goal to establish an industrial park.
The business park has been in the works since 2017. Construction on the 27-lot space is expected to be completed by the middle of 2026, costing the city nearly $18 million.
Funding comes from DelDOT’s Transportation Infrastructure Investment Fund and Delaware’s Site Readiness Fund.
Since 2017, Milford’s planning director Rob Pierce said city officials purchased property, created concept plans and gathered public opinion.
“We started working with Becker Morgan Group to develop a concept plan for which we made sure we tried to include input from the people of the immediate area, the neighboring property owners,” Pierce said.
Companies will likely start building on lots in five or six years.
Milford’s economic development and community engagement administrator Lauren Swain said it’s important for Milford to have long-term projects like this industrial park.
“It's our next generation, right?” Swain said. “We're building future opportunities for future generations, so we're setting Milford up for economic success, not just today, but tomorrow and for the future.”
Swain said the jobs will allow people to work, live and play in the same community.
