UD Hopes to Receive Additional $7 Million

Much of the former Chrysler assembly plant now looks like a giant concrete slab, dotted with piles of scrap metal and rubble.

The University of Delaware has owned the property for more than a year and half, and most of the old buildings have been torn apart and hauled away in dump trucks.

But today, the university hopes to take one of the first important steps toward making the area look like something more than a demolished industrial site.

At the monthly meeting of the Council on Development Finance, Alan Levin, director of the Delaware Economic Development Office, plans to recommend awarding UD $7 million from the state's strategic fund.

The funds will prepare the site for the arrival of Bloom Energy, the California-based fuel-cell maker planning to bring as many as 1,500 jobs to Delaware. The money also will help provide the rest of the site with the roads, sidewalks, traffic signals, drainage systems, gas, water and electric lines to draw future tenants.

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