This story was reported with support from the Delaware Division of Small Business. DSB assists small businesses by providing guidance and advice, helping navigate state permitting processes, increasing access to funding opportunities and connecting owners with strategic partners. Its mission is to help small businesses start, grow and scale in Delaware.
Almost a decade ago, The Mill launched in downtown Wilmington, bringing a Silicon Valley-like aesthetic to Delaware.
It wasn’t just the Edison light bulbs, conference tables that doubled as ping pong tables and free Dogfish Head beer that drew entrepreneurs and businesses to the space in what was then known as The Nemours Building (now part of Market West). The Mill offered small, affordable offices and a shared coworking space in a collaborative atmosphere, and became the home base of the tech workforce development boot camp Zip Code Wilmington, tech startups and solo entrepreneurs.
Over the years, The Mill expanded into the Wilmington suburbs with The Mill Concord, drawing a new clientele of lawyers, real estate agents and an influx of remote workers looking for a break from their North Wilmington home offices.
Just in time for its 10th year, its third location, The Mill Seaford in Sussex County, is slated to open in March of 2026.
“The roof is on, the glass is going in this week. It’s exciting progress,” founder and designer Rob Herrera told Technical.ly. “The site utility work is all completed, and now it’s just about building out The Mill.”
The Mill Seaford will be the first large-scale coworking space in Sussex County, part of a 22-acre redevelopment in what was once the Seaford Nylon Shopping Center. It includes a Delaware Tech Community College campus, a Community Bank Delaware office and a BrightBloom Center for children with autism. By offering fiber-fast internet, shared offices and a community hub for small firms, it aims to fill a long-standing gap in downstate Delaware’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, where resources are harder to find than up north.
The project, a partnership with Wilmington’s 9th Street Development Company, will transform part of the structure that was once 19,000 square feet of bustling shopping center into a space designed for entrepreneurs, small business owners and remote workers, with a central courtyard, communal workspace and other amenities.
In all, the Mill Seaford will have 18 various size offices, 28 open desks, two phone booths, 3 conference rooms and a large community space.
Downstate Delaware, a new frontier
Seaford is a town of about 8,500 people in southwestern Delaware. It was a 20th century factory hub, home to the world’s first nylon plant after DuPont decided to transform it in 1939. Seaford thrived until the 1980s, but by 2005, the “Nylon Capital of the World” was a shadow of its former self.
Western Sussex County is not home to many of the kind of tech and STEM startups seen at The Mill in Wilmington, but it has plenty of businesses and a share of remote workers that isn’t much less than Delaware overall.
While it’s still too early to know exactly how the Mill Seaford community will look, so far businesses in the construction industry have shown interest in having an office there, including a roofing business that has already signed on, Herrera said.
“We have a signed membership agreement with a roofing company that wants to run one of their offices out of our location, which is not a type of business I’ve ever signed,” he said. “I’m excited for the challenge.”
Bonus: Bringing back the bowling alley
As the number of remote workers and non-agriculture entrepreneurs have grown in rural Kent and Sussex counties, they have, in our past reporting, expressed a need for more spaces to network, collaborate and simply socialize with other people. Dover and the beaches have options, but for much of lower Delaware, isolation is a big issue, as high speed broadband access has made working from home possible in places like Camden, Georgetown and Seaford.
“We might be sitting on a huge ‘if you build it they will come’ opportunity,” Camden-based remote worker Xavier Hopkins told Technical.ly in 2023. “I moved to Delaware to be quiet and unbothered. However, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to meet other quiet and unbothered people.”
Coworking spaces can play a key role in rural and small town progress, according to a 2023 paper in the Journal of Rural Studies, supporting digital, knowledge-based and creative entrepreneurs in those areas. They can both draw new people to the area and retain young and highly skilled workers.
Having fun things to do is a big part of that — maybe even a bigger part in a small town of 8,500. Among the offerings of the old Nylon Shopping Center was a bowling alley, which is being renovated as part of the project by community popular demand.
“We really want to bring, not just bowling, but also a family entertainment center and an arcade, if possible,” Herrera said. “That would be my dream scenario.”
When it comes to the amenities to be offered at The Mill Seaford, Herrera is keeping it flexible, choosing to see what Seaford members want and need in the space before committing to offerings like a podcasting suite.
“As of right now, we’re starting off with the typical hot desking, pantry, mail room, all the basic printing areas, all your basic stuff that you need to have to have a proper functioning office space and coworking space,” he said.
If all goes as planned, The Mill Seaford will have its grand opening in time for the Mill’s upcoming birthday.
“We would love to have a big party down there on our 10th Anniversary,” Herrera said. “How cool would that be?”
