St. John Properties Crosses Into Delaware

St. John Properties will develop Middletown Exchange, a 75-acre, mixed-use project set to encompass 225,000 square feet of flex, R&D and retail space, as well as 450 homes, in Middletown, Del. This marks the developer’s first endeavor in the state.

The project will rise in multiple stages, and the first phase calls for the speculative development of two commercial buildings set to total 96,000 square feet. Construction will kick off this spring and completion is expected early next year. Three other facilities are planned for future development, depending on leasing momentum.

These flex buildings will carry St. John Properties’ signature architectural prototype, namely a single-story, part-office and part-warehouse design. The rear-load facilities, which aim for LEED certification, will feature 18-foot clear heights and drive-in doors, as well as elevated landscaping, among other specifications.

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The two planned buildings will rise at 1052–1096 Maple Grove Blvd. and 1241-1271 Foxborough Lane in New Castle County, about 23 miles southwest of downtown Wilmington, Del., and roughly 44 miles from the Philadelphia International Airport. Thoroughfares such as U.S. routes 13 and 301 run within less than 3 miles.

St. John Properties is among the largest commercial real estate companies, having developed more than 25 million square feet of flex/R&D, office, retail and warehouse space since its inception more than half-a-century ago. With this latest project, the company now operates across 13 states.

Metro Philly’s office pipeline is about to run dry

Metro Philadelphia wrapped up 2025 with a 19.7 percent office vacancy rate, according to the latest Cushman & Wakefield marketbeat report. New Castle County was more competitive, with a 12.4 percent vacancy rate, but asking rents were just $25.57 per square foot, below the market average of $29.12.

Just 438,000 square feet of office space were in production as of December across the market, the same source shows. However, all that space was concentrated in Philadelphia’s CBD, where Parkway Corp. is scheduled to bring online 2000 Arch, the new headquarters of Chubb Insurance, this year.