Delaware Online July 5, 2011 Ex-military facility offers new horizons for DSU - Kirkwood Highway building in Mill Creek comes at no cost By Wade Malcolm Delaware State University recently received good news. It soon will become the new owner of the Kirkwood Army Reserve Center on Kirkwood Highway in Mill Creek. And the price couldn't have been more attractive -- $0. "This is great for us," said DSU trustees Chairman Claibourne Smith after President Harry L. Williams announced the acquisition. The prime real estate comes courtesy of the federal government. The 10-acre facility was recommended for closure as a military installation in 2005. Later this year, the reserve will finalize a move to its new headquarters on Del. 273 east of Newark. DSU has not established a timetable for redeveloping the property -- which also comes with a 40,000-square-foot office building -- but Provost Alton Thompson said initial plans will focus on creating a new campus catering to adult learners and working professionals pursuing graduate degrees. DSU would have needed millions of dollars to purchase comparable land in New Castle County, said Amir Mohammadi, vice president of finance. "We want to have a bigger footprint in New Castle County, and this really helps us," he said. The new location could allow DSU to enlarge its "connected degree" programs with Delaware Technical & Community College, Thompson said. Students in certain academic programs can attend Delaware Tech for two years and transfer all of their credits to DSU. Social work and business currently are the most popular degrees in that program, and Thompson believes the lab space DSU can build on the Kirkwood site might attract more interest in biology and chemistry degrees. "With Delaware Tech and DelState working together, people might be able to get a [DSU] degree without leaving New Castle County," Thompson said. Last year, DSU enrolled 83 students who transferred from Delaware Tech, mostly from the Dover and Georgetown campuses. Thompson hopes that number will grow if the Kirkwood site attracts transfers from Delaware Tech's Stanton and Wilmington campuses. "We might hire faculty just for Wilmington," Thompson said. The Delaware Economic Development Office staffed a redevelopment commission to find potential uses for the land. DSU and Red Clay Consolidated School District submitted plans. And the U.S. Department of Education made the final selection, said Jeff Stone, DEDO's director of infrastructure and intergovernmental relations. "They decide what the discount will be," he said. "It can be 40 percent or 60 percent or some other amount. In this case, it was 100 percent. From the state's perspective, we were comfortable with either proposal." The commission focused on education proposals to secure the largest discount and to diversify the development in that area, Stone said. "We're not putting another commercial property on Kirkwood Highway, which the redevelopment commission didn't want," Stone said. "We probably could have sold it to a car dealership in a minute." DSU's only current New Castle County presence is a much smaller, storefront facility on Market Street in downtown Wilmington, leased for about $400,000 per year. The building serves 80 to 100 students at a time. The Kirkwood site would accommodate "significantly" more students and allow for more convenient parking, Thompson said. DSU's expansion into New Castle County and its plans to attract more adult learners comes as several other Delaware institutions target the same market. With the unstable and more competitive job market, many adults have returned to school to change or enhance their careers. Wilmington University, with locations throughout the state, has grown to more than 14,000 students, many of them part-time adults. Wesley College's revamped New Castle location offers more programs for working teachers, nurses and business professionals to pursue graduate courses. A new associate degree in the fall also will target adult learners, said Zoann Parker, executive director of the campus. "It's a huge trend, and it's been a huge trend for the last six or seven years," Parker said. "People aren't staying in the same job for 30 years. Everybody is shifting and moving and they aren't staying in the same careers. And when they get new careers, they need new training." Although its focus might be different, DSU leaders hope to still give the Kirkwood site a campus feel. Students would have the opportunity to start their degree in New Castle County before finishing in Dover if they choose, Thompson said. DSU also hopes it can be a gathering spot for two of its most active alumni groups -- in the Wilmington and Philadelphia areas. "We want it to feel connected to Delaware State in all ways," Thompson said. "We want it to feel like a campus. We want to give that atmosphere like we have here in Dover." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org www.hbculibraries.org 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org Honor the ancestors, honor the children.