The Downtown Dover Partnership recently announced that nearly $6 million dollars in grants they applied for are off the table.
The lion's share of it is federal dollars that have dried up. DDP applied for $5 million in federal aid earlier this year, but Congress has since elected not to fund appropriations committees, resulting in no disbursement of those federal subsidies.
Executive director for the Downtown Dover Partnership Diane Laird.
“Our redevelopment plans are multifaceted and many. The funding streams come in, sometimes with more strings than others. We look at it as a puzzle, and we have to move the puzzle pieces of funding around to the projects that are ready, that are imminent, and that are a priority for the moment." she told DPM.
DDP applied for another $1 million in grant funding from the Wilmington based Longwood Foundation, which has a mission of strengthening nonprofits in Delaware.
That application was also denied; Liard says other applicants’ projects were deemed more crucial.
Downtown Dover Partnership were the recipients of a $25 million dollar state investment early last year; DDP officials say it kickstarted their property development plans for Governors Avenue.
DDP says their Mobility Center on Governors Avenue, and the mixed-use apartment building that will come soon after, remain on schedule for completion in 2026 and 2027 respectively.
Laird says those projects remain on schedule, noting the mobility center in particular is the first step of the Downtown Dover Master Plan project.
Laird says the DDP will also continue to apply for more funding in the near future and says that this disappointment will not deter them from seeking federal funding options, "We [will] apply because they can result in millions of dollars, but they can also result in nobody getting anything if the federal government doesn't approve" she said.
DDP is unable to apply for these grants for another 2 years and Laird says they will apply again as soon as possible.
