What's Being Proposed

The Application

Developer Tsionas Management, represented by the law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP, submitted a formal rezoning application to the City of Wilmington on March 10, 2026. In May 2026, the developer filed an amended application changing the zoning request. The amended application requests R-5-B zoning for 2140 W. 11th Street, and split zoning for 1010 N. Bancroft Parkway — R-5-B on the Bancroft-facing portion and C-2 on the interior portion. Both parcels are currently zoned C-1.

The two parcels in the application are:

2140 West Eleventh Street (Tax Parcel No. 26-019.20-148; Owner: 903 DUPONT HIGHWAY LLC)
1010 North Bancroft Parkway (Tax Parcel No. 26-019.20-144; Owner: 1010 BANCROFT PARKWAY LLC)

The properties are bounded by North Grant Avenue, West Eleventh Street, North Bancroft Parkway, the subdivision of Bancroft Village, and the CSX Railroad. Both parcels are currently improved with office buildings and associated surface parking.

The Building

The developer's renderings show a stepped, L-shaped building with approximately 320,100 square feet and 200 residential rental units. The building would include a ground-floor coffee shop facing Bancroft Parkway. The massing steps from 4 stories along Bancroft Parkway to 8 stories in the middle section, rising to 12 stories toward North Grant Avenue — significantly taller than any existing structure in the surrounding neighborhood, and visible from the full length of the West 11th Street parkway.

The proposal also includes a change to local traffic patterns: West 11th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Bancroft Parkway would be converted from a two-way street to one-way.

See Current Images vs. Proposed Renderings for more perspective.

What the Rezoning Would Actually Allow

This is the critical distinction: the developer is showing a nine-story building, but the rezoning being requested is not for a nine-story building. It is for C-2 zoning -- which, under Wilmington’s zoning code (Sec. 48-211), permits structures up to 15 stories and 180 feet.

Unless a binding height cap is written into the approval as an explicit, recorded condition, the rezoning would allow any future owner of the property to build up to 180 feet on this site -- permanently, and without further public review.

Current C-1 "Neighborhood Shopping" zoning: maximum three stories / 47 feet, Floor to Area Ratio: 1.5
Current By Right Use: "Office, bank or financial institution"

Requested zoning — R-5-B (Bancroft-facing portions): maximum 15 stories / 180 feet, FAR 3.5. Requested zoning — C-2 (interior of 1010): maximum 15 stories / 180 feet, FAR 5.0. Both designations carry the same height ceiling.

Developer's proposed building: Stepped massing — 4 stories (Bancroft Parkway frontage), 8 stories (middle), 12 stories (Grant Avenue side). 200 units, 290 parking spaces.

The difference between what is being shown and what is being requested is between between 3 and 11 additional stories of legal entitlement with no strings attached.

What Is Not Being Proposed

We have heard the argument that this project will help address Wilmington’s housing shortage. We take housing seriously. But a 198-unit luxury apartment building at market-rate rents does not meaningfully address affordability for Wilmington residents who are priced out of the housing market. The developer has not proposed affordable units; the application does not include any income-restricted housing, any community benefit agreement, or any binding commitments on unit affordability. It adds supply at the top of the market, not where the need is greatest.

We believe Wilmington’s housing goals are better served by mixed-income development — projects that combine market-rate and affordable units, engage the community in design decisions, and build at a scale that fits the neighborhoods they are placed in. This proposal does none of those things.

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