There’s plenty to celebrate in Claymont these days, and breaking ground for a new $9.5 million library is just the beginning.
The library, which will face Darley Road, will sit on a 7.5-acre site donated by the Commonwealth Group, developers of the adjacent Darley Green townhouse-condominium-apartment complex, where nearly 90 units have been sold and construction of 250 to 300 apartment units will begin later this year.
Darley Green, when built out, will extend east to Philadelphia Pike, where the state Department of Transportation has begun a long-delayed repaving project that will give the community’s main street a more pedestrian-friendly Main Street feel.
And the business district, fortified in late 2010 by the opening of a Food Lion supermarket, will get another boost next month when the Eagle One Federal Credit Union begins construction of a new headquarters just north of the Claymont Fire Company on Philadelphia Pike.
Additionally, at the corner of Philadelphia Pike and Darley Road, the landmark Darley House, once the residence of noted 19th-century illustrator Felix O.C. Darley, will be put to greater use. In late April, the property, now owned by the state Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, will become the home of three organizations that link the community’s past with its present and future: the Claymont Historical Society, the Claymont Business Owners Association and the Claymont Renaissance Development Corporation.
The new Claymont Library and its role in revitalizing the Claymont community.
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The nearly two dozen state and county officials, led by Gov. Jack Markell and County Executive Paul Clark, who gathered Wednesday for the library’s groundbreaking ceremony, made repeated reference to these improvements and touted the library as the centerpiece of the community’s revitalization.
“This is going to be the cornerstone of a revitalized Claymont for decades and generations to come,” Markell said.
“We are creating a new sustainable Claymont, a walkable and accessible community,” with the library as its focal point, said County Councilman John Cartier, D-Brandywine East, whose district includes Claymont.
The presence of so many officials at the event illustrates the changing perception of Claymont. “For the longest time, Claymont wasn’t taken seriously. We were a little corner of the state that no one paid much attention to,” said Babak Golgolab, president of the Claymont Community Coalition, an organization of individuals and civic associations.
“This optimistic mood, it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but now we’re getting very good support from our [county] councilman, our state reps, and we’re getting more community involvement,” he said.
The library project represents the culmination of a dream that began in 1929, when the Women’s Club of Claymont opened a small library in shared space in the Old Stone School, opposite the Darley House at the corner of Philadelphia Pike and Darley Road. In 1988, the library moved into the basement of the Claymont Community Center on Green Street. A fire in May 1997 destroyed most of its collection; five months later, the library moved into its current location, 7,000 square feet on the ground floor of the community center.
The new library will be more than double that size — 17,500 square feet overall, said Diana Brown, community services manager in charge of New Castle County libraries. It will have all the features the county incorporates into its libraries — computers for patrons to use, wireless access, a community room, meeting rooms, study rooms, and “a good-sized children’s room with a beautiful design,” she said.
Outside, Brown added, will be two special features. A porch area, covered with a pergola, will permit a variety of outdoor activities. And a drive-up window will allow patrons who have items on hold to check them out without having to leave their cars, she said.
The surrounding parkland will eventually be developed with walking paths and other amenities, said Marcus Henry, community services general manager.
The library is scheduled to open in July 2013 and “if we can do it a little bit sooner, we will,” Brown said. Its $9.5 million budget includes $4.8 million from the county, $3.4 million from the state, $750,000 to be raised by the Friends of the Claymont Library, and the balance the value of the site donation by the Commonwealth Group.
The Friends are nearly halfway to their goal, thanks to $350,000 in donations from the Longwood Foundation and the Welfare Foundation, said Jeff Graf, head of the fundraising campaign. Area businesses and other foundations will also be solicited, and the Friends are offering individuals the opportunity to purchase engraved commemorative bricks for a walkway in front of the library for $100 each, he said.
State Sen. Cathy Cloutier, R-Heatherbrooke, gave the brick drive an instant boost by presenting a $1,000 check to Graf at the groundbreaking.
Delaware Secretary of State Jeff Bullock, a Claymont native whose job includes overseeing the state library system, recalled spending his early childhood in Brookview, which deteriorated into a crime-ridden eyesore before being razed to make way for Darley Green, and his mother’s volunteer work as a “library lady” at the Old Stone School.
“It wasn’t a big library, but it was a very important library, not only for us, but for the entire Claymont community,” he said.
In Darley Green, “the library will add a ton of viability and a sense of place to the site,” said Don Robitzer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the developer, the Commonwealth Group.
Next stop: an improved train station for Claymont
Since October 2009, 88 townhouses and condominiums have been sold or put under contract, at an average price of $272,000, and contracts are pending on about 10 more, Robitzer said.
The current sales pace, 36 units per year “in a slow, lethargic market,” could pick up to 60 a year as the economy improves, he said. Construction of the apartments this summer will bring another infusion of new residents, he said.
Darley Green residents tend to be “young, upwardly mobile professionals,” many working in health care, sales or education, Robitzer said. About three-quarters of them are first-time homebuyers, with 60 percent coming from Philadelphia and its suburbs, he said.
Those new residents are already patronizing local retailers, said Dawn Lamb, former president of the Claymont Business Owners Association and owner of Lambs Loft. Some have come to her consignment and resale shop looking for furniture and other items for their new homes, and they’re also redeeming gift cards that local merchants have placed in gift baskets for new residents, she said.
Brett Saddler, executive director of the Claymont Renaissance, which has spearheaded the revitalization, is enthused not only over the library and Darley Green but also with the renewed activity on Philadelphia Pike.
He points to the decision by Eagle One Federal Credit Union, which opened a branch here several years ago, to move its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia. Construction of the headquarters will begin in about a month, he said.
Saddler praised Eagle One as a business that quickly got involved in the community, “created a lot of good will and has gotten a lot of new members.”
Giving The Darley House a new lease on life.
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Claymont Renaissance will be getting new office space, moving into the Darley House, which had been a bed and breakfast before the state spent about $1.6 million to purchase and modernize it. The building will also provide meeting space for the Claymont Business Owners Association and the Claymont Historical Society, which is also expected to set up exhibits there.
Saddler, who wants the building to become a focal point for community activities, said one meeting room has been configured for use as a gallery for local artists and that the newly organized Darley Arts Center will offer classes in painting and other arts there. “The arts and culture are just as important to economic and community development as business retention and bringing in new jobs,” he said.
The Philadelphia Pike repaving project, now under way, will make the heart of Claymont safer and more pedestrian-friendly, Saddler said.
Construction crews are now working primarily on curb ramps and traffic signals and, in late spring and summer, repaving between Harvey Road and Gov. Printz Boulevard will transform the four-lane roadway into one with two 11-foot-wide travel lanes, a 12-foot-wide continuous two-way left-turn lane and two 5-foot-wide bike lanes, DelDOT spokesman Mike Williams said. Additional improvements are planned for between Gov. Printz Boulevard and Darley Road.
“It’s nice living in a community where you can get around on foot,” Lamb said. “People will be able to get out, talk with one another and enjoy the new Claymont.”
Robitzer is impressed with how everything is finally coming together.
“I’ve never seen as strong a community as Claymont,” he said. “We’re all rowing in the same direction.”