8/1/2008
Claymont Renaissance Village site prep almost completed. Construction anticipated to begin in November - Delaforum.com

Commonwealth-Setting expects by mid-August to be able to identify the local builder that will begin work on the first residential section of Renaissance Village.

Robert Ruggio, executive vice president of Commonwealth Group, lead partner in the joint venture redeveloping the former Brookview Apartments complex, said it is hoped that construction can begin in November with the first sample units ready about three months after that. Meanwhile, he said, utility work has begun on the site. Ruggio commented after a media event on Aug. 1 at which Claymont Renaissance Development Corp. received a $10,000 grant from county government. The corporation is a private organization fostering economic development in the entire Claymont area.

 County Executive Christopher Coons said the grant, which brings to $60,000 the amount of economic development money provided over the past seven years, is part of a "countywide investment in older communities." U.S. Senator Thomas Carper compared the Claymont project to riverfront development at the long-neglected site of the defunct Dravo shipyard in Wilmington, begun when he was governor. "Some people thought we were nuts. Now we're enjoying the fruits of [that] labor," he said. "When people don't take 'no' for an answer ... good things happen." 

Development corporation executive director Brett Saddler said the organization "is preparing a blueprint for similar neighborhoods in New Castle County."

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