Construction on Dover’s newest shopping center has begun.
In early November construction on the new center, located at 1128 Forrest Avenue in Dover, got underway. The new project will add thousands of square feet of retail space and up to 50,000 square feet of office space, according to &R Commercial Realty. The project is the most recent in an ongoing retail building boom in the Dover.
The first confirmed tenant of the shopping center is Dunkin’ Donuts, which will be moving from its current location up the road on 1230 Forrest Avenue. Nick Nistazos, both the owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts franchise and the developer of the new shopping center believes the new location will offer his customers greater ease-of-access and convenience. R&R Commercial Realty – the listing agency – is still in the process of locating tenants to occupy the two remaining retail pad sites in the new center. Nistazos says FMS Construction expects to complete phase one of construction by April.
The new center comes at a time in Dover where the stock of retail space is growing quickly, says R&R Commercial Realty broker/owner Charles Rodriguez.
“The finishing touches are being put on the nearby Capital Station now – a project which turned the old vacant Playtex plant into around 60,000 square feet of class-A retail space,” Rodriguez said in a press release. “There’s another large shopping center expected to break ground soon just south of the racetrack that will add another 30,000 square feet of space. The Loockerman Plaza project right downtown will be adding another 12,000 square feet. All that with Mr. Nistazos’s project amounts to a city-wide boom in commercial space that we haven’t seen in recent years. It’s really encouraging for the local economy.”
