Location Dover, Delaware, USA Developer Jardel Co. Inc. Opened August 1968 Number of anchor tenants 2 | Opening date August 1968 No. of anchor tenants 2 Phone +1 302-739-4614 | |
Owner Pettinaro Enterprises LLC Total retail floor area 450,000 square feet (42,000 m) Address 655 S Bay Rd # 4BB, Dover, DE 19901, USA Hours Closed today SundayClosedMonday8AM–4:30PMTuesday8AM–4:30PMWednesday8AM–4:30PMThursday8AM–4:30PMFriday8AM–4:30PMSaturdayClosed Similar Dover Mall, John Dickinson House, Delmarva Peninsula, Delaware Agricultural Museum, Delaware State Police Mu | ||
The Blue Hen Mall (now the Blue Hen Corporate Center) is a defunct shopping mall on Bay Road in Dover, Delaware. The mall opened in August 1968, and was the main mall in the Dover area until the Dover Mall opened in 1982, leading to its decline. In the 1990s, the mall was converted into a corporate center.
History
The Blue Hen Mall opened in the late 1960s, at which time it was the only enclosed mall in Delaware. The opening of the retail hub shifted several businesses away from downtown Dover, including JCPenney, which became an anchor store at the mall. Woolco also anchored the shopping center. This store was shuttered in early 1983. It soon reopened as a Roses variety store. At its height, Blue Hen Mall housed over 50 shops.
Sears was interested in relocating to the Blue Hen Mall from downtown Dover, but could not agree with management in where to place the store in the shopping center. As a result, Sears decided to relocate, along with other department stores, to the new Dover Mall which opened in 1982. Following the opening of the Dover Mall, many stores relocated from the Blue Hen Mall, turning it into a dead mall. It was also called by some of the local people as the "Blue Hen Chicken Mall." It was mainly used in the late 1980s when the mall was not popular anymore. At this time, the Blue Hen Mall was owned by Jardel Company, Inc. and Penn Mutual. JCPenney relocated to the Dover Mall in 1993 and Roses closed in 1991.
In the 1990s, the Blue Hen Mall was converted into the Blue Hen Corporate Center, with the retail space becoming office space. A Bank of America call center and an Aetna office facility served as the anchors of the corporate center. The Bank of America call center eventually closed and Aetna left the Blue Hen Corporate Center in 2009. In 2008, the property was sold by Blue Hen Venture LLC to Pettinaro Enterprises LLC for $17.4 million. Currently, the Blue Hen Corporate Center has several office vacancies.
In September 2013 Bayhealth rented the space and relocated all of its information services resources from Kent General Hospital and Milford Memorial Hospital to the former Aetna space. Bayhealth did a complete renovation of the space, including new office furniture, computers and phone systems for its employees and contracting staff. 24x7 helpdesk for the entire hospital system is operated out of this new space as well.