CONFIRMED: DuPont sells parking; HEARD: For $7M; hotel next; Chemours to NJ, Navy Yard, Delco?
Chemours linked to Navy Yard, Chambers Works
DuPont Co. has sold two parking lots across Orange St. from its soon-to-be-former headquarters in central Wilmington, Del., and the parking garage for the Hotel du Pont, to the Buccini brothers, Wilmington developers, real estate managers and hoteliers, for $7 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.
UPDATE: CONFIRMED: "DuPont signed an agreement to sell the Hotel du Pont Carpark to the Buccini Pollin Group. The carpark properties include a parking structure and two surface parking lots," DuPont spokesman Daniel Turner tells me in a reply email. "The transaction closed on March 31, 2015. Terms of the agreement are confidential."
I also hear DuPont is weighing sale of the Hotel du Pont itself (no confirmation yet). And that Chemours (kem-OARS), the planned $4 billion DuPont spin-off of the company's titanium dioxide business, is weighing these possible sites for a permanent headquarters, and maybe more (also Unconfirmed, though each would please plenty of local folks):
- New Jersey: A big cash gift from Gov. Christie's tax incentive program could land Chemours at DuPont's sprawling Chambers Works at the Salem County end of the Delaware Memorial twin bridges.
- Philadelphia: City officials and developers would love to place Chemours in a new-style open-plan office building near LIBERTY PROPERTY TRUST'S (CORRECTED) Glaxo building just south of I-95.
- Delco: Banker Rocco Abessinio landed DuPont spinoff Axalta's North American headquarters at his office building in Glen Mills, near the US 1 - US 202 junction. There's room nearby, and it's convenient to both Delaware and Philly.
- Wilmington: Or they could always stay in the former DuPont headquarters, which would spare the expense of relocation, and may make Chemours more attractive to new potential owners.
And just what is planned for the site of the former AstraZeneca labs currently under destruction just south of Abessinio's former Rollins tower, at US 202 and Delaware 141? It's another convenient place for ex-DuPonters. Separately, JPMorgan has gutted the buildings across 141 from the site, and is supposed to move in later this year.