Despite being home to a giant racetrack, Firefly, tons of history, a major Airforce base, and the state's capital, Downtown Dover has struggled to keep people coming and staying in the area.
Even businesses in the area having a hard time sticking around due to a lack of foot traffic.
"I want to stay I really do," Vahagn Aghekyan, owner of Esteem said.
Aghekyan wants to keep his business downtown but right now not enough customers are coming through to take a look at the sneakers he has for sale. Aghekyan says new customers do not often come in unless he "sticks out his neck" to reach people.
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"Route 13 is part of the problem but truly it has been years of disinvestment in the downtown and the high level of vacancy. It has been challenging to overcome that," Diane Laird, from Downtown Dover Partnership, said.
Further, in 2021 Wesley College closed its doors leaving the town short of thousands of college students.
But now things are starting to look up for Downtown Dover. Delaware State University has acquired the former campus of Wesley College, bringing back students and college life and that's just the start of the regrowth of the town.
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The Team at Downtown Dover Partnership says several projects are planned to revamp the area, and according to Laird, the team is confident these plans will lead to better times.
Thanks to an influx of $80 million of state and federal money, a groundbreaking is months away for residential buildings with groceries, shops and new dining experiences.
There will be a total investment of about a half a billion dollars for projects including a new parking garage and a multimodal transit center.
Downtown Dover's crime rate is also significantly lower leaving Laird feeling like the area will only continue to get better as more people start to populate the town.
"When we see a bunch of new residents here living working playing here. It's gonna be a whole new place. It's gonna be a transformed downtown Dover," Laird said.
The plans are set to fully transform the area by the year 2030.
