Major changes coming for Grotto Pizza corporate office

Located off Route 1 outside Rehoboth Beach, the corporate office for Grotto Pizza is a drab, one-story stucco building. That likely won’t be the case 18 months from now.

Grotto Pizza Vice President Jeff Gosnear said Oct. 24 the company will be demolishing the office building and, in its place, constructing a three-story, mixed-use building. The corporate office will be on the first floor, with eight one-bedroom apartments on the second floor and four two-bedroom apartments on the third floor, he said.

“It’s a horrible, old concrete bunker,” said Gosnear of the old space.

The new building is planned to be roughly 25,000 square feet, including 7,000 square feet of space between two offices on the first floor – 4,500 for Grotto Pizza; 2,500 for another tenant, said Gosnear. Describing the project as the highest and best use for that property, he said it should take approximately 16 months to complete.

Grotto Pizza had begun looking into the project before COVID, but had to turn focus to other things to see through that, said Gosnear.

In anticipation of the project, the company moved its corporate office to Nassau Commons outside Lewes in early October, he said. The temporary address is 17503 Nassau Commons Blvd., Lewes, and the phone number – 302-227-3567 – is the same.

Gosnear said the company plans to give its employees first dibs at renting the apartments, but those not taken will be offered to the public for rent.

The new corporate office isn’t the only project on the books for Grotto Pizza. The company is also going to be renovating the Grand Slam near Five Points soon, and then there’s the new hotel on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk. Gosnear said he has a contractor ready to work as soon as the site plan is approved for Grand Slam, but he didn’t have too much to add for the hotel. The company is still trying to decide the best path forward between going to Rehoboth’s planning commission or the board of adjustment first, he said.

The Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled to conduct its final site-plan review on the corporate office project Thursday, Oct. 27.