How Fort DuPont project is proceeding with RV park plans on pause
More than a year after construction crews left the site of a controversial RV park and campground in Delaware City, the project has yet to resume.
There's been little word on when the developer, Blue Water Development of Ocean City, Maryland, will pick up the project. Once they do, it could be a matter of months before they open for business.
Blue Water plans to build a 400-slip RV park and campground in the mold of Millsboro's Sun Outdoors Rehoboth Bay that will bring tourism to the banks of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
In an interview with Delaware Online/The News Journal in September 2022, Blue Water CEO Todd Burbage said the company typically starts construction in the fall and can be open by May of the following year for the start of the campground's peak season. At that time, he said construction could resume "as early as 2023" or by the fall of 2024.
"We're just being flexible with it," Burbage said.
Since then, the company has provided no public updates and has declined or not responded to requests for comment. Construction crews operated on the site for a few months last year before leaving in June 2022.
The RV park and campground was a central controversy of the early years of the Fort DuPont project, a state-backed redevelopment of an abandoned military installation between the canal and the Delaware River. The state established a private-public organization to restore some of the worn military buildings and help construct new waterfront housing and amenities. It has so far committed close to $20 million to the project.
PREVIOUS REPORTING: How Delaware's plan to resurrect Fort DuPont as a 'vibrant' riverfront haven went wrong
The previous leadership of the Fort DuPont Preservation and Redevelopment Corp. sold more than a third of the property to an LLC related to Blue Water in 2021. Jeffrey Randol, the corporation's executive director at the time, said he saw the deal as an opportunity to raise revenue for the corporation and introduce a long-term economic driver for the area.
But the deal faced stiff opposition from community members. The land sold by the corporation, a 130-acre tract referred to as the Grassdale property and divided from the rest of Fort DuPont by Route 9, had been placed under open space protections for multiple decades.
State lawmakers then intervened and brought the corporation under new leadership last year. They are moving forward with the Fort DuPont project without knowledge of when Blue Water plans to build the RV park and campground.
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Tim Slavin, the current executive director of the FDRPC, said he does not know when Blue Water will resume work. He noted it's a private company working on privately controlled land and thus not in his domain.
Former City Manager David Baylor said in a June 26 mayor and council meeting that the Blue Water project would resume in late August or early September. When asked for an update last week, Baylor said in an email that his request for information to Blue Water's project manager went unanswered.
"Therefore, I have no idea what is going on with the project," he wrote.
Baylor left the city at the end of July to become the executive director of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Earlier this month, the corporation's counsel, Richard Forsten, participated in a conference in Chancery Court regarding a lawsuit that seeks to reverse the Grassdale sale. Forsten said he tried unsuccessfully to reach counsel for Blue Water before the conference.
"My understanding is they intend to do something this fall," Forsten said, according to a transcript obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. "The last I spoke with the Blue Water folks, their goal was to open next year. So, obviously, there is work to be done. But I can't tell you if they plan to start work this month or September or if, in fact, they have put it off till mid-spring."
Blue Water agreed to pay $3.6 million for the Grassdale property. They made a $1.4 million down payment and are due to pay $2.1 million by Oct. 29, 2025. The fort corporation issued the mortgage with no interest. The company's stormwater management plan also expires in 2025.
Blue Water continues to be active on other properties
With the Delaware City project stalled, Blue Water in recent months has made multiple deals across the country and in Delaware.
The 16-year-old company's announcements mostly revolve around taking ownership or management responsibilities for RV parks and resorts. This year, they've completed renovations of facilities in Luray, Virginia, and Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, worth $38 million.
In July, Blue Water announced that it took ownership of the Dewey Beach Yacht Club and the Rehoboth Bay Marina (formerly Pier Point Marina). A $2 million renovation of the yacht club is underway.
The recent series of moves cemented Blue Water as a leader in the camping industry with more than two dozen resort properties throughout the Northeast, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Oregon, Montana and Tennessee. The company regularly partners with Sun Communities LLC, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in manufactured home and RV communities.
In Delaware, Blue Water also owns or operates Sun Outdoors Rehoboth Bay in Millsboro (formerly Massey's Landing), Jellystone Park at Delaware Beaches in Lincoln, Dewey Beach's Aloft and Bay Resort hotels and Bethany Beach's Ocean Suites and Holiday Inn. In December, an affiliate company, Great Outdoor Cottages, opened a production facility in Georgetown.
A Blue Water affiliate called Blue Beach Bungalows LLC took ownership in September of a manufactured home community and campground neighboring the Jellystone Park in Lincoln.
The company faced allegations this summer from the Delaware Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Unit that the company illegally tried to evict residents, according to reporting from the Delaware State News. The department issued a cease-and-desist order in April. Blue Beach Bungalows has refuted the allegations.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in January issued a violation to the company for "failure to possess appropriate on-site wastewater and disposal systems" at Pine Haven.
What lies ahead for Fort DuPont
The fort corporation is in the "last lap around the track" in a strategic planning process, Slavin, the executive director, said.
The process, undertaken with the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement, is designed to clarify the organization's objectives, strategy and preferred outcomes and to engage the community. The hope is to form a "shared vision for what we're doing," Slavin said.
From March through July, individual interviews with board members, state resource allocators and other stakeholders were conducted in addition to a series of focus groups and an online town hall and survey. A draft of the strategic plan will be presented at a board meeting Sept. 13 and to the public Sept. 19.
Three priorities emerged, according to Slavin: "finish what you started" in terms of historic preservation; boost access to recreational, cultural and natural amenities; and build community support and trust while enhancing transparency and communication.
The next large piece of the project is the Marina Village, a residential development with 130 stacked townhomes between the existing residences and the Delaware River. The project received a special-use permit in April and is now in the preliminary plan submission phase, Slavin said.
The fort corporation needs approvals from Delaware City, the Delaware Department of Transportation, DNREC and the National Park Service. They are working on them simultaneously, while also addressing some issues Delaware City presented in the special-use process.
"We have a road in front of us for approval," Slavin said. He declined to offer an estimated timetable for construction.
Lennar, a national homebuilder, is slated to build the townhomes.
The fort corporation is conducting preliminary work to restore a chapel and theater, but it does not have all of the funding it needs to complete the projects. Slavin said the corporation will need to be more aggressive in seeking federal dollars. The plan is for the chapel to be used as a community center and the theater to be restored to its original function.
The two largest buildings on the property – the Tilton and Paynter buildings that were part of the Gov. Bacon Health Center – represent "one of the bigger historic preservation challenges," according to Slavin. He said they will likely be divided into multiple uses and could have a modern addition. The corporation is getting feedback from multiple individuals and firms on how to proceed with the properties.
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Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Fort DuPont: RV park developer quiet on when construction will resume
