Thursday, October 22, 2026 · 7:00 AM ET
Middletown DE 19709 · Odessa · Townsend
Jump to: Build List · This Weekend · New and Open · Holiday Calendar · Housing Number · Quick poll
Good morning. This is our fifth issue. The Appoquinimink school board raised the district's school tax this week without a referendum, and you'll see it on the bill that arrives in early November. That leads the Build List, along with two new sports facilities on Patriot Drive and a Monday workshop on how our part of the county grows. The downtown holiday schedule is also out, so we've put every date in one place.
The Build List
New this week
Appoquinimink's school tax is going up, no referendum needed. The school board voted Oct. 20 to raise the district's tuition tax, per WDEL. For a home assessed at $500,000, that works out to about $109.50 more a year. The district pointed to rising special-education costs. Its tuition fund had fallen to about -$573,000 and is back to $1.78 million, and the goal is a $4.5 million cushion. The new rate shows up on the school tax bills going out in early November, due by the end of the year.
Two sports facilities approved on Patriot Drive. Mayor and Council unanimously approved both permits on Oct. 5, per Delaware Public Media. First State Performance's athlete academy is taking over Momentum Volleyball Club's current building at 108 Patriot Dr., and Momentum is moving to a larger space at 119 Patriot Dr. The club serves 600 to 700 kids a year and has grown about 40% in three years. It says it won't host tournaments at the new site and hopes to add pickleball.
Where the WuXi campus stands. The roughly $500 million WuXi STA campus, 1.74 million sq ft on 190 acres at the south end of town, was nearing completion as of June, per Spotlight Delaware. The plan is a drug research facility this winter and sterile manufacturing next year, with nearly 500 jobs and $19 million in state grants behind it. The catch: in June the Pentagon added WuXi to its list of Chinese military companies, and WuXi is suing to get off it. We haven't seen an opening date yet and will tell you when there is one.
A public workshop Monday on how the land around us grows. New Castle County, DelDOT and WILMAPCO (the regional transportation planning council) are writing the Southern New Castle County Growth Area Land Use and Transportation Plan, a program of road and infrastructure improvements for the county's unincorporated growth area in our part of the county, per the county. The next public workshop is Monday, Oct. 26, 4:30 to 6:30 PM at the Odessa Fire Hall. All are invited, and there's a link to register on the Town of Odessa's notice, along with the boards from the first workshop in April. This is a plan, not an approval: it recommends what roads and infrastructure should come with growth, and each development still goes through the county's own review. If you live outside town limits, like the Village of Bayberry area, this is one of the few times the county asks what you think before projects are filed.
Mayor and Council meets Monday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 PM at Town Hall, 19 W. Green St. The agenda is posted on that page a week ahead.
Planning and Zoning meets Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7 PM at Town Hall.
Also on the Oct. 5 agenda: Triton Services' plumbing and HVAC offices at 1100 Industrial Dr. and an Extra Space self-storage site at 700 N. Broad St. We'll report those outcomes once the minutes are posted.
In Odessa, Mayor and Council meets Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 PM and the Planning Commission meets Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7 PM.
Still in the pipeline. The older projects we've covered and where they stand. Once something opens, it comes off the list. We'll update this once a month.
Project | What | Who approves | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Scott Run Commerce Center | 3 warehouses, 1.3 million sq ft, Jamison Corner Rd. | New Castle County | Fully approved. No construction start announced yet. |
Green Giant Elementary | 840-student school, 29 acres | Town of Middletown | Planning and Zoning approved the preliminary plan unanimously in June, per Delaware Public Media. Expected to open in 2029. |
Bayberry Town Center | 280,000 sq ft retail, 145 townhomes | New Castle County | Weis open. Building C1 change in county review. |
Greenough at the Estates of Saint Annes | 33 single-family lots, 224 Wiggins Mill Rd. | Town of Middletown | Record plan was on the Oct. 5 Mayor and Council agenda. Outcome not posted yet. |
Summerton West | 2 four-story apartment buildings with ground-floor shops, 870 Middletown Warwick Rd. | State PLUS review (advisory only) first | On the Sept. 2 PLUS agenda. Not approved. |
Levels Road self-storage | About 126,760 sq ft, with a second building of about 93,600 sq ft later, 735 and 745 Levels Rd. | Town of Middletown | On the Sept. 17 Planning and Zoning agenda. Outcome not posted yet. |
This Weekend and Halloween Week
This weekend, Friday, Oct. 23 to Sunday, Oct. 25
Live music: Damn The Torpedoes at Elkton Music Hall, Elkton, MD. Friday, Oct. 23. Doors open at 8 PM. 107 North St., a short drive over the state line. Tickets from $38. Details
Cabaret's final weekend at The Everett. Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 PM; Sunday, Oct. 25 at 2 PM. 47 W. Main St., Middletown. $22, students $18. Tickets
Boo-K It! 5K costume run and family walk. Saturday, Oct. 24, 9 AM (check-in from 8 AM), Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library, 115 High St., Odessa. Run or walk in costume; it benefits Delaware's first free public library. The 5K is $39.03 online, the 1-mile family walk is $28.38, and kids 3 and under are free. Register
YMCA Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat. Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 AM to 2 PM, Middletown Family YMCA, 202 E. Cochran St. Free, with crafts, inflatables and trunk-or-treat. Details
Trick or Treat Block Party on Main. Sunday, Oct. 25, 4:30 to 6:30 PM, Main Street, downtown Middletown. Free.
Last weekend: Award Winners XXVI art exhibition. Closes Sunday, Oct 25, Historic Odessa Foundation.
Halloween week, Tuesday, Oct. 27 to Saturday, Oct. 31
New exhibit: American Samplers by the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild opens Tuesday, Oct 27, and runs through Dec 31 at Historic Odessa, 10 AM to 4:30 PM.
Zumbini Halloween Party for little ones. Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 10 AM and Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 5:30 PM, Natural Nest Play Cafe, 5350 Summit Bridge Rd., Suite 111, in the Cricklewood Grove Shopping Center. Zumbini with Gabrielle is a music and movement class for ages 10 months to 5 years. Classes often sell out, so book ahead, and bring socks for kids and adults. Details
CharBOOterie Crawl. Next Thursday, Oct. 29, 5 to 7 PM, five stops on the west side of Main Street. Check in out front of The Everett. $35, 21 and over. Tickets were still on sale Tuesday night, with no sold-out notice. Tickets
Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31. Trick-or-treating in Middletown is 6 to 8 PM, per the town. At The Everett, the free Trimungus 10 Year Anniversary Spooktacular starts at 8:30 PM (registration required, ages 13 and up), and The Rocky Horror Picture Show starts at midnight, doors 11:30 PM, $20 with a prop bag (The Everett). The night before, Friday, Oct. 30, Middletown High hosts Salesianum at 7 PM, per its schedule. Odessa and Townsend haven’t posted 2026 trick-or-treat hours yet. We’ll share them on our Facebook page when they do. Also on Friday, Oct. 30, the Boos and Brews Costume Party and Contest runs 7 to 10 PM at Volunteer Brewing Company, 116 W. Main St., with Middle8 and Tramonto Woodfired Pizza.
New and Open
Tlaxcalli Cantoran is open downtown. A new Mexican restaurant, Tlaxcalli Cantoran, is open at 17 Wood St., just off Main Street. Hours are 11 AM to 9 PM Monday through Thursday, 11 AM to 10 PM Friday and Saturday, and 10 AM to 9 PM Sunday.
Also this week: Happy Place Childcare holds a chamber ribbon cutting Tuesday, Oct. 27, 3 to 4 PM, open to the public, per the Middletown Area Chamber. 4922 Summit Bridge Rd Middletown, DE
The Holiday Calendar
Main Street Middletown has posted its holiday schedule, so here is everything announced so far, in date order. Save this one. We'll remind you as each date gets close.
Nov. 7 to 21 · Lamppost Decorating. Community groups decorate the Main Street lampposts, and then the public votes.
Friday, Nov. 27, 6 PM · Christmas Tree Lighting and Caroling on the Square. At the four corners downtown. Free.
Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 AM · Holiday Spectacular Parade. The route runs South Broad Street to West Main Street and ends at South Scott Street. Floats, bands and Santa.
Saturday, Dec. 5 · The Great Middletown Cookie Crawl. Downtown. Time and tickets aren't announced yet. We'll tell you when they are.
Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 AM to 5 PM · Christmas in Odessa. A self-guided tour of decorated historic homes, run by the Women's Club of Odessa. $25 in advance, $30 that day. Details
Dec. 5 is the big day: the parade, the Cookie Crawl and Christmas in Odessa all land on the same Saturday.
The Housing Number
MEDIAN SALE PRICE · 19709 · 3 MONTHS ENDING SEPT 2026
$516,848
Down 2% from a year ago
In Issue 1 we reported a 19709 median of $539,378. Redfin now puts it at $516,848 for the three months ending in September, down 2.0% from a year earlier. That's a much smaller drop than the 8.9% we reported last week for the three months ending in August. Homes are also moving faster: a median of 49 days to sell, down from 57 a year ago, and 176 homes sold in September, up from 167. Prices are close to last year's, and homes are selling a little quicker. Townsend (19734) went the other way: its median rose 6.1% to $465K over the same three months. Homes there took 45 days to sell, up from 30 a year ago, and 58 sold in September, up from 47. Price per square foot there fell 10.9% to $212, so the higher median mostly reflects bigger homes selling, not each square foot costing more. Source: Redfin 19709, Redfin 19734.
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Ask Middletown Weekly
What's going into 700 N. Broad St.? Extra Space Storage asked the town for a conditional use permit to run a self-storage facility in Suite B there, on industrial (M-I) zoned land. It was item 8F on the Oct. 5 Mayor and Council agenda. We'll report the outcome once the minutes are posted.
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