What’s Happening to the Abandoned NVF Building in Wilmington
What’s Happening to the Abandoned NVF Building in Wilmington
This is a still-developing story and simply describes the information that is available online. For more information I recommend contacting the DNREC or the city council.
For years, the residents of Wilmington and Elsmere have passed by the vacant, fenced-in property of the old NVF Company building. The property sits on Maryland Avenue and Beech Street in Browntown. With a newly developed road that passes directly from Browntown to the Riverfront area, the Riverfront is now only a five minute drive for Browntown and Hedgeville residents, and a 10 minute walk on the newly paved trails.
NVF Company was a private company based in Yorklyn, Delaware. The company originally produced a material that was commonly used on guitars, for guitar pickups. NVF’s manufacturing came to an end when a flood in 2003 damaged the equipment. In 2009 they declared bankruptcy and dissolved the company and all its locations, including Kennett Square, Wilmington, and Yorklyn. The NVF company was no more.
Unfortunately, this meant that the buildings became vacant, and to be honest, eye sores to the communities they were originally built in.
So what’s new with the NVF building?
Well…nothing. Right now, that is. But I’ve done some digging on the internet to see what, if anything, is in the works for the NVF building (that is basically just taking up space for no reason).
What I found was that the Yorklyn site has already begun demolition, remediation, and revitalization, but still has much more to come. Some businesses have occupied the old site, including Dew Point Brewing Company.
But what about the Wilmington site? Well, according to a DNREC site post, there was a proposed plan of remedial action for the NVF Wilmington Site. This was published on February 28, 2021 and accepted comments from the public until March 22, 2021. If you are seeking additional information, the DNREC site gives a phone number and an email to reach out to, which I, of course did. I have not heard anything back as of yet.
There is a document for review on this same webpage, but the document would not open on my browser for some reason.
So I did more digging…
Of course I kept digging to see what else I could find, because the DNREC post didn’t give much information. And I’m so curious!
I googled the NVF company building in Wilmington, Delaware and a vague Reddit post from 1 year ago came up. The post was dated September 30, 2021. It stated that the old NVF building would be torn down and revitalized into a 240 apartment unit building and office center.
Who’s to say this is accurate information, I’m not sure. But the timing of the post matches up. The publisher of the Reddit post went on to say that the architect’s website now reads “in planning” when describing the NVF revitalization project.
I reached out to the Reddit user for more information and have not heard anything back as of now.
