The SevOne quality assurance team with Tanya Bakalov.
Fast-growing technology company SevOne plans to move its headquarters from Pike Creek to the University of Delaware STAR campus in Newark.
Rumors of the company’s move had been making the rounds for months as the Pike Creek property is expected to be redeveloped.
“This is exactly the kind of company we want on the STAR Campus,” said University of Delaware President Patrick Harker. The university deferred questions on the lease itself to Delle Donne and Associates, the developer of the property.
Harker said SevOne fits in with the campus’ emphasis on areas such as infrastructure, cybersecurity, alternative energy, and health and life sciences.
Harker noted that SevOne has deep roots at UD. Company founders Vess and Tanya Bakalov, both graduated from UD and founded SevOne about a decade ago.
“Last year alone, SevOne hired 12 graduates as full-time employees,” Harker said. Another 17 are interns and the company currently employs dozens of UD graduates, he added
The first two interns of the company were UD students. Both now hold management positions with SevOne, according to Harker who hopes the number of interns will grow with SevOne’s proximity to the STAR campus.
At one time, SevOne’s offices were in the Delaware Technology Park, prior to its move to Pike Creek. Employment is now believed to be upwards of 300. The company also has an office in Philadelphia.
The News-Journal first reported the lease deal, quoting DelleDonne owner Ernest DelleDonne on the deal.
Work had resumed on the first phase of the STAR campus, which will also see two other new tenants, the News Journal reported.
SevOne offers technology that monitors the health of large computer systems for Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies.
The firm has grown rapidly and received a major investment from Bain Capital The funding is expected to aid the company, which competes against giants in the technology space.
The lease will also ease fears about companies not locating to the campus, due to sentiments by neighbors about the Data Centers project on a distant corner of the property.
Opposition from neighbors and environmental activists was so fierce that business leaders feared that the empowered group of opponents would work to scuttle any non-academic development.
Opponents claimed the project was a power plant masquerading as a data center. Data Centers, a veteran-owned start-up said massive sites are needed as more information is stored online.
At a Trustees meeting last week, UD Harker said the university sees a long time frame when it comes to development of the property. The site now consists of the Health Sciences college and other facilities, as well as the Bloom Energy manufacturing site.
Harker said the recently released plan for the first section of the STAR Campus, takes in about 65 of the nearly 300 acres of the former Chrysler assembly site. That first phase, when fully built out would match or exceed the square footage of office space in downtown Wilmington.
The campus is already a busy place, he said, pointing to the Health Sciences complex at the site of the former Chrysler administration building. Also in the area is a research project on storing electricity in batteries of electric cars.
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