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Real Estate - Commercial

In Soda Pop District, A Safe Place To Open Outreach Campus

By Cece Nunn, posted Nov 11, 2019
Shown in 2015, the former Coca-Cola bottling building at 921 Princess St. is home to office space and will soon house an outreach campus for A Safe Place. (File photo)

A new tenant is coming to a former Coca-Cola bottling building on Princess Street, in the area known as Wilmington's Soda Pop District.

About 5,700 square feet inside the building will be an outreach campus for A Safe Place, a nonprofit organization that focuses on prevention, advocacy and restoration to assist victims of domestic sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.

A Safe Place is currently in temporary office space across the street. The organization's new address will be 921 Princess St., Suite 100.

"We'll be able to finally expand our outreach," said Dawn Ferrer, program director.

MaLisa Umstead, founder and executive director of A Safe Place, has said the location would feature 14 offices for its full-time staff, two victim interview rooms, a full-size kitchen to teach life skills, a conference room, an outreach center and a wellness center with exercise equipment and space for yoga.

For Umstead and others with the organization, the outreach campus will be "a dream come true," Ferrer said.

The space will also house the Loads of Love initiative, a laundry service that funds A Safe Place's member employment opportunities.

Ferrer said A Safe Place officials hope to move into the new space the first week of December. An open house is planned for 4 to 6 p.m. Dec. 17, she said.

Last year, she said, A Safe Place helped 129 women.

Jim McFarland, of building owner Osprey Lands LLC, said the structure has two tenants and room for more office and retail tenants.

Meanwhile, Keith Rhodes is still planning a food hall in about 4,000 square feet of the 9,000-square-foot structure at 1002 Princess St., also part of the former Coca-Cola bottling complex, McFarland said.

Osprey Lands LLC bought the property in late 2015 with plans to redevelop the area.

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