By Glenn Rolfe

SEAFORD — Signs of progress are in place at the former Nylon Capital Shopping Center, with heavy equipment on-site.

Being hailed by the 9th Street Development Co. as a “premier destination” in Sussex County, an upcoming 218,000-plus-square-foot town center will include a mix of institutional and recreational spaces, embracing both adaptive reuse and new construction.

The redevelopment borders Stein Highway, Atlanta Road, Tull Drive and Sussex Avenue.

This week, city manager Charles Anderson confirmed that machinery has been “mobilized to start selective demolition.”

Meanwhile, Mayor David Genshaw has April 25 marked as the date for the groundbreaking.

“I keep telling people, ‘I know this thing is going slow, but I do think, once it starts, it is really going to go quickly,’” he said.

It was announced in early February that TidalHealth would be joining the mix, with the construction of a 22,000-square-foot facility overlooking the campus green and pickleball courts.

Other anchor tenants will be Delaware Technical Community College, The Mill co-working site and a BrightBloom center, described as a Montessori school focusing on autism and special needs.

In addition, pending approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Community Bank Delaware plans to branch out from its spots in Lewes and Rehoboth Beach.

The Rite Aid, Dollar Tree and Sal’s Italian Restaurant will stay, and the hope is a bowling alley will return to the space, developers said.

The 22-acre, $60 million rebuild of the former Nylon Capital hub aims to create a diverse mix of education, health care, co-working and retail spaces.

Site work on the four streets surrounding the campus is also included.

Coinciding with this effort is the Department of Transportation’s Stein Highway rehabilitation project, with traffic light upgrades, road patching, paving and rebuilding curbs to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.