Image courtesy of Summit Land Development
A Dover-based development company has secured an important approval from city officials for a large mixed-use project on the site of a former farm.
The roughly 100-acre development at the intersection of Littleworth Road and Columbus Avenue would have about 700 homes, plus “supporting” commercial and retail space according to plans filed by Summit Land Development.
Summit is finalizing completion of its similar Pointe Place development elsewhere in Dover, which totals over 400 residential units and 100,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
An affiliate of Summit inked a development agreement with city officials in 2022 covering roads, conservation easements, general architectural character and other details.
Plans filed with the city show three mixed-use buildings with 60,000 square feet of retail along Littleworth Road, the main artery for the area. These would be backed by a large, garden-style apartment complex with over a dozen buildings and a “community green.”
The site would be rounded out with a large park, a 64-unit assisted living facility, a small-lot neighborhood for residents over 55 and three large-lot, single-family cul-de-sacs.
The Dover Planning Board voted to approve a conditional use permit for a zoning overlay for the Summit project on June 10.
The project must still secure site plan approval and potentially subdivision approval for each phase, but Dover officials appear supportive of the project given the concessions secured in the development agreement.
The exact timing of the development’s phases would be dictated by market conditions, the application stated, but full build-out could occur over as few as 10 years.
The first phase would cover site infrastructure and the mixed-use buildings, filings state.
Sumit is also developing a former farm nearby into an extension of the city’s existing industrial park with around 8000,000 square feet of manufacturing space spread across several buildings, plus a 1-megawat solar farm and a 140,000-square-foot warehouse.
