Happy Thursday,

Change is in the air on the upper end of Market Street.

The new mood was apparent when stopping into the  Stitch House Brewery  for a networking event from the Technology Forum of Delaware.

Stitch House was a lively place on a Thursday night, with no seats at the bar and a large and diverse crowd of younger people and families at nearby tables.

A short distance away from an eerily quiet north Market Street is a  massive Buccini/Pollin apartment complex that is in the throes of construction. It will join other apartment developments in the area that include the former WSFS headquarters building.

The Midtown Parking Garage is already open and will offer badly needed parking in the area and a major amenity for apartment dwellers.

At the upper end of  Market Street outside construction elevators were operating into the early evening  as renovation work continues at the DuPont building.  Overhauled headquarters space for Chemours and a food hall are in the works.

The path ahead will not be easy. Nearby Ninth Street, a once busy area, is a quiet place these days, with lots of for rent signs. Wilmington still has far too large a downtown for a city of 71,000. 

But hundreds of millions dollars in investment offers plenty of reasons for hope and a reason for suburban skeptics to make a trip downtown.

After all,  word has it that there are at least a  half a dozen spots with tasty burgers.

Enjoy your Thursday and dodge those raindrops. At least the temperature went up. The final newsletter for the week returns tomorrow. – Doug Rainey, publisher