Commerce Drive construction cost-sharing agreement reached

DENTON – After about four years of cost-sharing, construction of Commerce Drive and access to State Route 404 is finally moving forward. 

Commerce Drive will connect the entrance at Walmart on Legion Road to the busy state highway across from the Gay Street exit. Although a traffic light was initially in the works, drivers will enter and exit Commerce Drive from westbound 404, otherwise known as Shore Highway. 

The three owners of the properties through which Commerce Drive will traverse will pay for construction of the road as a private venture to the tune of about $4 million, as well as other infrastructure extensions, which will then be turned over to the Town of Denton.  

The entire road has been designed by two engineering firms, according to the Planning Commission’s May 26, 2026, minutes. “Davis, Bowen & Friedel, Inc. is preparing the southern portion, while Bohler Engineering is preparing plans for the northern portion. These firms have been coordinating since the project’s inception,” the minutes stated. 

The commission had approved three-quarters of the road a few months ago, but the three property owners reached a tentative joint construction agreement that day, Attorney John Tracey said. While the town has helped facilitate an agreement, it was reached privately among the three property owners. 

Silicato Construction of Millsboro, Delaware, already started site preparation in anticipation of building Denton’s first Wawa on the nearly 4-acre property owned by Denton Site SW LLC that sits closest to Shore Highway. 

At their July 28, 2026, meeting the Denton Planning Commission approved preliminary site plans for the Wawa. 

At the meeting, Tracey and fellow attorney John Kuffel of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, LLP of Wilmington, Delaware, explained that the Commission “actually saw this and approved essentially” a preliminary plan in 2023, but the ongoing Commerce Drive negotiations had caused the delay. 

“We've read all the comments from the town planning staff,” Tracey said. “They've been great to work with as we've been trying to get to this point. We have no issues with the comments that have been raised.”  

Construction of the Wawa requires final site plan approval, but the owners hope to break ground on the convenience store with gas pumps in 2027. 

Towards the end of the July 28 meeting, Seaford, Delaware-based property owners Shailesh Patel of Dhruvil LLC and his son Dhruv Patel of PSM Property LLC expressed concern about the lack of multiple access points as well as congested traffic on Legion Road and pedestrian safety. Shailesh Patel said they have been involved in the Commerce Drive negotiations since 2023. He also suggested the idea of developing a “supermarket like Redner’s.” 

Planning Commission Chairman William Quick said the Commissioners were in “full agreement” with the Patels’ concerns. “More access is better than less access, but it’s not within our purview to require such,” Quick said. “That is something that has to be negotiated (among the property owners).”  

Dhruvil LLC owns a 7-acre parcel south of the proposed Wawa, while PSM Property LLC is a nearly 5-acre parcel bordering Shore Highway northwest of Wawa. 

Mallard Construction of Chester, Maryland, received preliminary site plan approval on May 26, 2026, from the Denton Planning Commission for a subdivision that has been in development for over a decade. It “aligns with the Town’s Comprehensive Plan objective to foster economic development and enhance the surrounding area,” according to the meeting minutes. 

The minutes also referred to “a long history of all these properties and their difficult relationships, as well as the traffic situation at 404 and Legion Road. In 2011, an agreement was reached between JPA Venture, LLC, and the parcels to the west of the easement. All the property owners entered into the easement, and the Town played a role in ensuring that,” according to attorney Brendan Mullaney of McAllister, DeTar, Showalter & Walker LLC. He represents JPA Venture LLC, owner of a 40.7-acre parcel of land situated on the northern side of Legion Road and the southern side of Route 404.   

The JPA Venture LLC property is a mixed-use commercial project with access from Legion Road.  

The Commission unanimously approved “the combined concept and preliminary subdivision plat for the Commerce Drive major subdivision, contingent on satisfaction of all comments by the Town Planner, Town Engineer, Town Staff, and Town Council approval for all required legal agreements and other approving agencies,” according to the May 26 minutes. 

“Everybody is moving slowly in the same direction” said Mallard Construction spokesperson Victoria Hoffman following the May 26 meeting. “The town has been really supportive.” 

In the town’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan a future “critical intersection” of Commerce Drive and Gay Street at 404 would be needed. 

Following the May 26 meeting, DiDonato told the Caroline Review that developing his property has taken 16 years. 

DiDonato and Hoffman said the State Highway Administration had approved an intersection at Gay Street and Commerce Drive in 2019. “It's a huge deal that they allowed it, because they would normally never allow any access to 404 at all,” Hoffman said. The current configuration, however, features a “right-in, right-out” at 404 and Commerce, 

The Mallard Construction project design, as outlined by Brett Ewing of Lane Engineering in Easton at the Planning Commission’s April 28, 2026 meeting, “is structured in phases with a tiered layout. The commercial area is situated at the base, followed by progressively denser residential zones as one moves away from the commercial side, specifically from Walmart,” according to the meeting minutes. “He clarified that the project will be implemented in phases over an extended period. Initially, the focus will be on constructing the road and initiating residential development to generate funds for future phase projects.” 

Ewing said the proposed project would comprise 82 single-family units, 87 townhouse units, and a future multi-family/apartment area. At the same meeting Ewing said the plan was to have Commerce Drive completed within a year. Ewing said the project was included in a 10-year-old Traffic Impact Study (TIS), but “hundreds of residential units and $500,000 square feet of retail” were anticipated, according to the April 28 minutes. 

Mallard Construction CEO Jim DiDonato said the TIS was “primarily conducted to secure a signalized intersection” at Commerce Drive and Gay Street. 

DiDonato also said at this meeting that he had a verbal agreement with the Wawa Group to complete the project. Denton Town Councilman Frank Taylor “emphasized that Commerce Drive is a component of the Comprehensive Plan and expressed gratitude to the developers for their collaborative efforts in devising a plan to achieve its objectives,” the April 28 minutes stated.