By Glenn Rolfe

SEAFORD — There’s local, county and state interest in the Western Sussex Business Campus, a project officials predict will generate several hundred jobs.

The development’s $5.1 million Phase II looms, and the city plans to couple monies from Sussex County with other potential sources to expand infrastructure on the 44 acres along Herring Run and Ross Station roads.

Maryland-based KRM Development Corp. entered into an agreement with the city for the initiative last year. On Tuesday, City Council voted 5-0 to back economic development director Trisha Newcomer’s recommendation to apply for a $500,000 county grant and use more than $600,000 in city funds for the campus’s next phase.

Grants from Sussex County, which range from $100,000-$500,000 based on municipality size, are offered to all its towns and cities. Overall, $6.4 million is available, stemming from a better-than-expected windfall in realty transfer tax during the real estate boom.

Any amount over $100,000 carries a dollar-for-dollar match. In Seaford’s case, the match requirement will be $400,000.

Groundbreaking for the business campus was held in April 2021, on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that it will be basing a distribution center in Seaford.

The city anticipates KRM to begin work on Phase I — a 50,000-square-foot building — in the second or third quarter of 2022. It is expected to facilitate many employment opportunities.

Per the agreement, Seaford is to install the infrastructure in Phase II soon, so buildout occurs as soon as the property is ready.

“It will open up additional lands that KRM purchased in that phase,” said City Manager Charles Anderson. “I think it’s around 20 acres of additional land.”

To completely finance Phase II improvements, the city recently submitted a request to its local legislators for funding from the state’s fiscal year 2023 bond bill. Seaford officials propose using $608,657 of local reserves to meet — and actually exceed — the requirements of the county match, per City Council approval Feb. 22.

The planned use of the county funding fits the criteria, as the grant must be utilized for public safety, economic development, public works and/or infrastructure, Mr. Anderson said.

“I want to say thank you to the county,” Seaford Mayor David Genshaw said. “This applied to all towns in Sussex County. This is a huge lift to all of us trying to invest. It’s something they don’t have to do, but they did it.”

The state and the county have significant investment in the Western Sussex Business Campus, which was sparked after developers became interested in untouched land the city purchased several decades ago.

In fall 2020, Seaford officials pitched the campus proposal to Sussex County Council. In early December of that year, the county pledged a maximum $1.88 million over several years. The city is contributing $600,000, with additional considerations in its fiscal year 2022 budget.

Meanwhile, bond bill appropriations have provided $350,000 so far.

With headquarters based in Chestertown, Maryland, KRM is a full-service developer with facilities in Delaware, Maryland, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.