Delaware State Treasurer Colleen Davis has announced that the nation’s three top rating services have all delivered the highest possible rating to Delaware. After presentations from the Office of the State Treasurer, Department of Finance, Office of Management and Budget, and the Governor’s Office, Moody’s, Fitch, and S & P Global Ratings all returned a Triple-A rating.

“The rating signifies Delaware’s ability to meet its financial obligations,” said Treasurer Davis. “It reflects our creditworthiness and allows the State to repay bonds at a lower cost and is a representation of our financial health and management practices.”

Highlights of the evaluation reports include:

• Healthy budget reserves, liquidity, and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
• Recent strong growth allowing the state to fully fund two reserves to a combined 12% of revenues
• Strong financial management and governance indicated by frequent revenue forecasting and a statutory limit on spending
• Lower business costs and the cost of living relative to neighboring states that could continue to attract new residents

In its evaluation, Moody’s commented, “The State of Delaware maintains a strong credit position supported by healthy and stable finances, and strong management and governance. The state’s well-established process for monitoring revenue and its statutory limits on annual spending growth are important tools that aid financial management year after year. These tools and the state’s continued growth in reserves provide a cushion should unforeseen fiscal challenges arise or persist.”

Fitch noted, “The state has exceptional financial resilience from strong financial management that has contributed to the maintenance of ample financial cushion through economic cycles.”

Standard & Poor’s provided a similar summary. “Delaware’s demonstrated history of proactive fiscal management and well-embedded strong financial policies underpin the rating,” said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Geoff Buswick.

“Delaware remains committed to maintaining its Triple-A bond rating,” Treasurer Davis said. “We will continue to focus on strong financial performance, sound management practices, and effective leadership to ensure we continue to earn top ratings long into the future.”

Treasurer Davis is one of four bond issuing officers in Delaware, along with the Governor, the Secretary of Finance, and the Secretary of State. The next bond sale is scheduled for on or about April 26, 2023.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF MARNIE CUSTOM HOMES

BETHANY BEACH — Years ago, Marnie Oursler moved down to Ocean View after college and started working as a realtor and other odd jobs to save up money and figure out her next step.

Instead, she built her own company, Marnie Custom Homes, which has built 140 houses to date and earned her the 2022 Custom Builder of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders. She was honored during the International Builders’ show in Las Vegas earlier this year.

“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Oursler told the Delaware Business Times. “I didn’t think it was something that we’d be recognized for on a national level. I feel like we were kind of the underdog because when I started I did feel like I was fighting my way through. Well, I guess people do notice you.”

Oursler is Delaware’s first builder honored with the award as well as the first woman.

“I’m just grateful to be doing this for a living,” she added. “I never thought 20 years ago when I started this that I’d be on a stage in Las Vegas for this award, thanking people. I’m definitely grateful.”

A Southern Maryland native, Oursler and her family spent their summer vacations at Delaware’s beaches. Her father was also a custom homebuilder and developer and would often drop her and her brother off at a new neighborhood where they would sweep out houses, build decks and form concrete.

When Oursler was 24, she decided to buy her first property – a tear-down house seven blocks from the beach – and flip and sell it. Then she repeated the process again and again.

“I couldn’t afford to hire a builder, and I was honestly surprised about how much I knew about the process,” she said. “I didn’t realize it growing up, but I was learning about new materials and maintaining a job site along the way. I was really surprised at how comfortable I was.”

After she flipped and sold her third house was when the neighbors started paying attention and wanting to hire her to build their dream homes. The timing to start her own company also wasn’t ideal. Marnie Custom Homes launched in September 2007, right ahead of the housing crisis. But through networking from her previous real estate career, she was able to land referral projects and shore up her brand.

Today, Marnie Custom Homes has 14 employees. She also hosted two television shows: DIY Network’s Big Beach Builds and HGTV’s 2018 Dream Home.

“It’s almost funny, because I didn’t really know the difference of the market at the time. But I did have a lot of questions at the time. How was I going to sustain this and do it for a living,” she said.

Oursler prefers to handle clients hands-on, starting first with their wish lists and then seeing what’s possible, especially in the living area ratios allowed by each municipality and flood zone requirements. Then it comes down to priorities and finances.

“A majority of our clients want the same things, like open showers. But in terms of how a family lives in a house, that’s where it becomes different,” she said. “We’ve had clients that we’ve dealt with for a number of years, so their family grows and we need to add more bedrooms. Or there was a wedding, so now you have to add more space.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, business boomed with people looking to escape the constant tedium of being indoors and renovating their houses. But Oursler said the pace is returning to normal: designing and building homes between Labor Day and Memorial Day, something she wants to keep doing for a long time.

“I don’t really want to do anything else. I love watching my team grow and get better, making sure our houses are creative. This is a lot of fun,” she said. “I always want to build new things, and for me, the current house I’m working on is my favorite.”

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The eastern side of the Christina River in Wilmington, Delaware, has been hyped for years as laden with potential for mixed-use development.

Now, Wilmington is enjoying a historically fertile time for new development, though the Riverfront Development Corporation of Delaware is still searching for how to introduce a mix of uses at the 86-acre brownfield site, panelists said Feb. 16 at Bisnow’s Delaware State of the Market event at 1313 North Market St. in Downtown Wilmington.

Riverfront West has been a rousing success, with apartment buildings, hotels and restaurants popping up in the past seven years, RDC Executive Director Megan McGlinchey and Buccini/Pollin Group co-President Chris Buccini said at the event.

Over those same seven years, RDC drafted and pursued a complementary master plan for the eastern bank of the Christina, but the pandemic impacted Riverfront East in a similar way to the rest of the country.

“When we first planned [Riverfront East], we had 2M SF of office planned,” Wilmington Mayor Michael Purzycki said in his opening remarks for the event. “I thought it was more, but the point of it is, how much office construction are we going to be doing now? Who knows. But right now, you wouldn’t bet on having a whole lot of it. So you have to pick a Plan B.”

Seeking to capitalize on the region’s favored sector, RDC commissioned the Delaware Prosperity Partnership last year to run a feasibility study for life sciences development at Riverfront East, McGlinchey said.

“We know there’s a lot happening in that market right now out in the suburbs, but not as much in the city of Wilmington,” she said.

The study determined the site could support a small to midsized life sciences development such as a multitenant wet lab building, which BPG has expressed interest in building, McGlinchey said. But with 86 acres, one life sciences building leaves tons of room for other uses. While a sizable portion will be turned into green space, the market has sent a clear message about the site’s development potential.

“The developers that have been coming to us are pretty much exclusively multifamily,” McGlinchey said. “We’ve had a lot of interest in multifamily, but the entire development can’t be multifamily. We need to have some commercial space there.”

The preference for multifamily is born from more than just a lack of options. Multifamily development in Wilmington has roared back to life after 50 years of dormancy, with 1,000 units consistently in the pipeline and new deliveries leasing up rapidly, Buccini said.

“As soon as one delivers, another one starts back up, and so far, people keep moving in and getting these places occupied,” Purzycki said.

While 1,000 units may not represent a Philadelphian’s idea of a development boom, it also may not represent the best Wilmington can do. Over the six-month period ending in May, Wilmington will see 800 units delivered across four apartment projects, Buccini said.

“So, it’s happening,” Buccini said. “Like, it is game on.”

Even if a market has yet to take shape for commercial tenants at Riverfront East, the momentum in multifamily would be enough for many developers to want to strike while the iron is hot. But RDC and Wilmington are not quite in position to do so, having yet to purchase all the land envisioned to be part of the master plan. The pace of acquisitions has picked up in the past three years when compared to the previous four, McGlinchey said.

“We really took advantage, frankly, of Covid and the willingness of landowners to sell,” she said. “Now, we have acquired about 75% to 80% of those 86 acres.”

Considering that Riverfront East isn’t shovel-ready, McGlinchey sees little reason for RDC to lock in a commitment to a specific development plan, considering how much could still change by the time all 86 acres are assembled.

“I think we need to rethink what that mix looks like,” McGlinchey said. “And I think what we see as great about our plan is that it’s very flexible.”

Contact Matthew Rothstein at matt.rothstein@bisnow.com

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Delaware Governor John Carney, U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (all D-Del.) announced the approval of Delaware’s state plan for $60.9 million in funding under the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The SSBCI is a program through the U.S. Department of Treasury that was reauthorized under the American Rescue Plan Act to support small businesses and entrepreneurship and expand access to capital.

Delaware will operate four programs: a capital access program, a loan participation program, and two equity/venture capital programs. The loan participation program will offer up to 50 percent participation in small business loans for equipment and working capital. The Delaware Early Stage VC Program will support the formation of new VC funds with Delaware-based managers, focused on investments in underserved startups. The Delaware Accelerator and Seed Capital Program will support an estimated three accelerator programs, supporting idea-stage startups, including those developed by underserved owners and managers.

“This new funding will be another resource to strengthen small businesses and create good jobs up and down our state,” Governor Carney said in a statement. “It will promote entrepreneurship and provide more resources for early-stage incubation programs. It will also help diverse businesses access capital and leverage additional private dollars that companies need to grow. I want to thank President Biden, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and members of our congressional delegation for making these new resources available.”

“The role of government is to create a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation, and the State Small Business Credit Initiative is a great example of creating a nurturing environment for entrepreneurs to be able to compete with their bigger counterparts to get their business off the ground,” Sen. Carper said. “This is one more tool in the toolbox that is available for small businesses to grow and thrive.”

“Tens of millions of dollars to help small Delaware businesses get loans, support underserved entrepreneurs, provide seed capital for cutting-edge startups — these funds will provide a critical lifeline for the small businesses that make up the backbone of the First State’s economy,” said Sen. Coons.“My Small Business Access to Capital Act, which was enacted in the American Rescue Plan, revived a proven program to provide small businesses with the capital they need to grow, and I couldn’t be happier to finally bring these funds to the Delaware businesses that need this help the most.”

“Today’s announcement is another demonstration of the strong commitment the Biden Administration has to investing in small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country,” Rep. Blunt Rochester said. “I am thrilled that Delaware is going to receive over $60 million under the State Small Business Credit Initiative, funding made possible through the historic American Rescue Plan Act that I voted for, to support critical initiatives including a capital access program, a loan participation program, and two equity/venture capital programs. With this funding, small businesses and entrepreneurs in underserved areas will have expanded access to capital, be able to grow their businesses, and help bolster our local economy all at the same time.”

The American Rescue Plan Act, championed by Senators Carper and Coons and Congresswoman Blunt Rochester, reauthorized and expanded SSBCI, and was highly successful in increasing access to capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The new SSBCI builds on this successful model by providing nearly $10 billion to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments to increase access to capital and promote entrepreneurship, especially in traditionally underserved communities as they emerge from the pandemic. This includes $2.5 billion in funding and incentives to support underserved businesses. SSBCI funding is expected to catalyze up to $10 of private investment for every $1 of SSBCI capital funding, amplifying the effects of this funding and providing small business owners with the resources they need to sustainably grow and thrive.

In January, the Census Bureau released data which showed that over the last two years Americans have applied to start 10.5 million new businesses, making 2021 and 2022 the strongest two years on record for new business applications. The investments being made through SSBCI are a key part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s strategy to keep this small business boom going by expanding access to capital and by providing entrepreneurs the resources they need to succeed. The work Treasury has done through SSBCI’s implementation process to help these funds reach traditionally underserved small businesses and entrepreneurs will continue to be critical to ensuring the small business boom lifts up communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

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Demand for “ready-to-go” laboratory space for growing wet-lab (biology and chemistry) based companies continues to remain extremely high throughout the United States. Delaware is addressing this issue with a new lab space grant program to ensure that existing companies are able to grow here and that the state can attract new companies by increasing its inventory of ready-to-go lab space. This is important because these businesses provide great jobs and contribute to the valuable research and development (R&D) activity that drives all innovation economies.

Delaware’s grant program helps science and tech companies with the expenses associated with building out lab space. The initiative is funded by $10 million earmarked from the Delaware Strategic Fund and helps spur private-sector investment by making lab space construction or renovation more affordable.

To qualify, companies need to be interested in growing and required increased or new wet lab space as part of that expansion. Companies should be actively working with landlords and real estate developers, and be able to provide high level details on the projected growth at the beginning of an inquiry. DPP is vetting prospective applicants to ensure they are at the right phase to qualify for a grant, and the state is reviewing qualified applicants as soon as they clear the vetting process.

A Delaware Prosperity Partnership press release that announced this statewide initiative in 2021 provides an overview. The following Q&A offers additional details.

What exactly is “ready-to-go” lab space?

It’s laboratory space that requires complex infrastructure that must meet strict requirements, such as the appropriate drainage and vent systems, chemical fume hoods, special bench tops, and particular types of water, that are different from office space and quite a bit more expensive to build out. The grant program helps companies that don’t have the familiarity or relationships with developers or the up-front cash flow to be able to pay for the creation of such space.

Why is lab space in such high demand?

The nationwide need for lab space has been a trend in recent years, and Delaware began examining the local lab space landscape a couple of years ago to find a solution to what was correctly determined to be an ongoing issue. Then, COVID-19 really accelerated demand because the companies providing solutions to the pandemic are the types of businesses that rely on research and development coming out of wet lab space. So it was very timely that Delaware already had been looking at the situation and was able to come up with a solution.

Why is it so vital to address this issue?

Science and tech companies that use wet-lab space make up such an important sector of Delaware’s economy. It’s a sector that has established so many great jobs here in Delaware already and that promises to give Delawareans many great jobs in the future as well.

How does the grant program help?

Space is the top priority for companies – especially those companies that are lab-based – when they are deciding where to go to expand or relocate. The program ultimately supports the growth of Delaware’s inventory of ready-to-go lab space. A company that is partnering with a developer for a specific project may apply for up to one-third of the fit out cost up to $210/foot (or a maximum benefit of $70/foot) for building out the lab space, capped at 50,000 square. The grant wouldn’t cover all of the cost, but it will help them reserve some of their resources to focus on their research and get their products commercialized – instead of spending it all toward building expensive infrastructure.

What are the goals of the grant program?

First of all, to meet the current demand for lab space in Delaware. Then, making sure that Delaware has additional lab space available where we can we can attract new companies and be able to say that the facilities they need are ready and waiting for them – that their lab space is truly ready-to-go.

How much money is available through the grant program?

The state has approved up to $10 million for this fiscal year, and Governor John Carney has announced an intention to set aside additional money for the grant program starting in fiscal year 2024.

What are the qualifications for a company to apply?

Companies should be at the right growth point where they’re going to be creating more jobs and scaling up their research and development along with the size of their overall operations in Delaware. It could be a young company coming out of one of our incubators at the University of Delaware or the Delaware Innovation Space at the DuPont Experimental Station. Or it could be an older but smaller company that has held back and delayed growth over the years because it hasn’t had the space to expand into.

The primary factor is growth point. Each company may only apply for grant funding for up to 50,000, square feet of lab space. Looking at the market, only certain companies fall into that growth stage.

How can companies interested in applying for the lab space grant program learn more?

They can email nolson@choosedelaware.com.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced plans Monday to renovate 33 floors of office space, build a new parking garage for Wilmington employees and fill 725 roles in Delaware.

The groundbreaking ceremony, attended by U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and several senior Chase executives, reconfirmed the New York bank’s commitment to the First State that will include a massive modernization effort across its corporate campuses in Wilmington and Newark. JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) said this will be its largest U.S. real estate and active renovation investment, behind only the ongoing development of its new Manhattan corporate headquarters at 270 Park Ave.

JPMorgan has five office locations in Delaware — three in Wilmington and two in Newark — with the bank owning four of them. The nation’s largest bank has over 11,000 Delaware employees, second only to ChristianaCare among private employers in the state.

Delaware is the headquarters for the bank’s credit card business and also houses a variety of back office operations and customer facing operations, including a fast-growing retail presence that began in 2019 as Chase launched a plan to add 50 branches in the Philadelphia region within five years.

Chase also has about 2,800 employees at a technology center opened in 2016 at 880 Powder Mill Road in Wilmington. Of the 725 job openings, Chase said about 200 will be technology roles at a time when giants such as Google and Microsoft are laying off tens of thousands of employees.

“The message we’re trying to say is that some organizations may be trimming their sails on the tech side where we are looking for talent here and all levels of talent,” said Don Mell, Chase’s market executive and Delaware site lead.

The 725 jobs are largely open positions and not new roles, Mell said. Many of the openings were created by employees relocating to other markets across the U.S and the world, he said. Some are new roles and some openings are due to attrition.

As for the renovation project, Mell said Chase is building a 700-space parking deck at its Wilmington Corporate Center at 201 N. Walnut St. as more employees return to work post-pandemic. The bank said that will allow it to bring all remote parking onto the campus to make it more convenient for employees. A spokesman said most Chase employees are asked to work from their office between three and four days a week.

“We are encouraging people to come back into the office,” Mell said. “We feel that that’s what really drives collaboration.”

Chase is also renovating 22 floors of office space on its Wilmington Corporate Center and another 11 floors at its Newark Corporate Center. Mell said the project would take several years to complete and focus on significant technology upgrades and enhancing space utilization for both buildings, which are about 40 years old. The enhanced space will be more flexible and include more designated space for collaboration.

Mell did not say exactly how much the project would cost, saying it was a “moving target” and a “substantial investment” in the multimillion-dollar range.

Chase said the garage will be its first project built using low-carbon materials/concrete and will save some 465 metric tons of embodied Carbon (CO2e) from being used during construction.

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Our mission at StartOut is to “accelerate the growth of the LGBTQ+ community to drive its economic empowerment, building a world where every LGBTQ+ entrepreneur has equal access to lead, succeed, and shape the workforce of the future.”

Every year, we leverage hundreds of strategic partnerships with various organizations that seek to do the same because we know that building a more inclusive opportunity for entrepreneurs takes a village.

Erica Crell (she/her) is a brand new StartOut member joining us from the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP). As the lead economic development organization for the state, the DPP’s goal is to build a more inclusive and prosperous entrepreneurial community. As the organization’s Innovation Manager, Erica spearheads the expanding diverse pool of business owners and founders throughout the state.

As one of our newest members this year, Erica spoke with us about her journey, her mission in life, and what she’s looking forward to in 2023.

I went to school at Rutgers, where I graduated with a degree in English. Early in my career, I spent some time working in the medical publishing and advertising world, working primarily with Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies. I developed, managed, and implemented managed care-focused programs and was responsible for forecasting and managing projects generating over $1.4 million in annual revenues while assisting management with sales and increasing company profit by over 30% annually.

In 2020, I joined Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance (DESCA) as a marketing and program manager. Being in this role exposed me to work that impacted my entire state and eventually helped me transition into my current role at DPP. I’ve been able to use my science background and entrepreneurial background to help entrepreneurs across Delaware.

Aside from my day job, I’ve been lucky enough to spend more than two decades coaching field hockey across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Through my coaching experience, I’ve gotten to know my community, what it takes to work as a team, and what motivation certain folks need to succeed.

StartOut’s partnerships manager, Kayla DiPilato (she/her), serves on the steering committee for an initiative of ours called Startup 302. A StartOut Growth Lab alum, Carbon Reform, is an active member and has participated in our program.

After connecting early on with Kayla, we’ve tried to make an effort to leverage our resources, local and national, to have a greater reach within the entire LGBTQ+ entrepreneurial community.

She’s been a great resource, and we’ve spoken multiple times about how DPP can help StartOut and vice versa. It truly has been such a meaningful partnership, and I’m excited to see where we can go this year

Startup 302 is a community-organized pitch competition based in Delaware but open to companies from around the country, focused on startups led by founders from underestimated groups. The competition, which offers non-dilutive cash grants as prizes, is open to early-stage, venture scalable companies led by founding teams, including women, Black, Latinx, Native-American, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. The competition’s application and first two rounds of review will be virtual, and the finals will be held in person in Wilmington, DE, on April 27th.

StartOut is one of a handful of organizations that have helped us put this pitch competition together, and we’re incredibly grateful for their support.

Generally speaking, Delaware is one of the most inclusive communities in the country. We have a very large Queer scene and offer hundreds of resources, opportunities, and support services to help lift and empower LGBTQ+ Delawareans.

Not many states prioritize underserved communities’ economic potential, and I’m proud to say we do so. We want everyone in Delaware, and we want everyone to feel like they have a voice in our world.

When you look at the stats and see how less than 1% of VC dollars back LGBTQ+ startups, it’s alarming. We try our best to help lead the change forward by doing it in one of the most diverse states in the country.

You can connect with Erica on LinkedIn for the latest updates on her work with DPP, and follow our blog on Medium for monthly member stories.

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