DL Open Thread: Friday, June 5, 2026

Incyte, BPG, The City Of Wilmington.  What could possibly go wrong?:

Less than two years after investing nearly $80 million into two downtown Wilmington office buildings, the pharmaceutical company Incyte sold the properties to the city’s most prominent developer in a deal that generated just 10 cents in real estate taxes, according to public deed records.

The tax payment suggests a sale price of $1 for each of the Bracebridge buildings that sit next to Rodney Square and once formed the backbone of Delaware’s credit card industry.

That sale price also raises the question of whether the companies involved in the transaction earlier this spring avoided what might have been millions of dollars in taxes to Delaware and its largest city. 

Delaware imposes a tax on real estate transactions that amounts to 4% of a sale price, or the fair market value of the property — whichever is higher. The revenue is then split between state and local governments.

Last year, Incyte held a book value for the two downtown Wilmington properties of at least $76 million, according to a company earnings report. While a book value does not necessarily reflect what a buyer would pay in an open market, it does offer a benchmark that is difficult to reconcile with a transaction that generated only 10 cents in taxes.

By essentially gifting the properties and writing off their value as a business loss, Incyte will be able to reduce its future taxable income. However, it won’t have the tens of millions of dollars in the bank that a sale likely would have produced.

Such a deal allows the transaction to move much faster than a sale, avoid costly attorney fees and transfer taxes, and negates the need to find financing for the property acquisition — particularly if the properties weren’t originally in Buccini/Pollin Group’s long-term plans.

Comparatively, when Incyte purchased the buildings two years ago, it paid the state $1.2 million and the city $700,000 in transfer taxes. It was the largest single transfer tax payment the city had seen since Barclays acquired its U.S. headquarters in the Riverfront district in 2021.

Beyond the tax question, Incyte’s sale of the two buildings marks the end of the company’s ambitious project – backed by nearly $25 million in taxpayer grants – to renovate the buildings for what would have been a massive expansion into Wilmington’s city limits.

Incyte did not reply to an emailed question about the real estate tax payments.

A spokeswoman for the Buccini/Pollin Group said in an email that the listed sale price of $1 does not reflect the entire compensation involved in the sale of the buildings. 

“We aren’t able to discuss the specifics of the arrangement,” the spokeswoman Claire Nester said.

Nester did not reply to a follow-up question, asking whether the modest taxes paid on the sale were legally sufficient.

Comments from Delaware’s government officials also did not shed light on the questions around the 10 cents in real estate taxes.

A spokeswoman for Wilmington Mayor John Carney said the city has no control over “what the property sells for.” 

Forget it, kids.  It’s Buccini/Pollinville.

City Council To ‘Throw A Wrench’ Into Carney’s Homeless Plan?  Too late, sez I.  Should have held up the budget to do it.  Still:

Wilmington City Council President Trippi Congo says he’s ready to throw a wrench into city government until a future plan for the unhoused living at Christina Park is announced.

Congo, along with Councilwoman Shané Darby, voiced frustration that they learned about Mayor John Carney’s affordable housing plan during his Budget Address, and that it has continued through the timeline of creating the encampment at Christina Park.

Carney announced last month that the Christina Park encampment was to be closed on Monday, June 15, but not specifically spelled out what will happen to the dozens of people living there after that point.

Wilmington’s contract with Friendship House, which has been helping to run operations at Christina Park, runs out on June 30.

“We have to have a plan in place that is comprehensive, humane, and adequate in their transition to housing, or transition to services, or whatever that looks like for each individual,” Councilwoman Darby said during Thursday’s meeting.

One of the major issues has been a rift in priorities between Wilmington City Council and the Mayor’s Office when it to who should benefit first from affordable housing.

The short-term future of that space remains under debate, although advocates on both sides agree the current Christina Park encampment cannot be a permanent solution.

Darby said like Congo, she’s prepared to play her part to stop any legislation coming from Governor Carney (oops!) until he helps the unhoused situation.

A resolution passed Thursday by all 9 members of council in attendance asked the office to create a Houselessness Response Coordinator position, also for them to work with Springboard Delaware to build pallet villages, similar to the one in Georgetown, in the city.

Congo said he didn’t believe the Mayor’s Office was going to listen to Council’s request on the topic, but Darby said she’s prepared to shut them off, if needed.

“We’re not weaklings just sitting here at the whim of the Mayor’s administration. We have the power, we vote on things. I’m not voting on anything else for you, if you do this. I would do it.”

Rethugs Sign Senate Death Warrant?  Ultimately, they just can’t quit him:

Senate Republicans on Friday rammed through their $70 billion bill to fund President Trump’s immigration crackdown through the remainder of his term, after beating back bipartisan efforts to add language to bar or sharply restrict a federal payout fund for his political allies.

The 52-to-47 vote early Friday morning sent the measure to the House, which was expected to move quickly to pass it.

It was a victory for the president and his party, who have been eager to spotlight their hard-line immigration stance — and Democrats’ opposition to it — in the middle of an election year when their control of Congress is at stake. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, was the only Republican to oppose the measure, joining all Democrats.

The overnight session featured a series votes orchestrated by Democrats seeking to force Republicans to weigh in for the record on unpopular moves the president has made, including his plan to create a $1.8 billion payout fund to compensate people who he claims have been victimized by the government; his push for $1 billion in federal funding for his White House ballroom project; and his decision to name the housing secretary Bill Pulte as the nation’s top intelligence official.

The tactic the Rethugs used to pass the bill?  The amendments required 60 votes, passage of the bill required only 50.

The result was the success of Republicans’ move to use a special filibuster-proof budget bill that was never meant for routine funding matters to effectively muscle through a multiyear mega-spending bill for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection over unified Democratic opposition. They resorted to the maneuver after Democrats refused to agree to further funding for Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown without new restrictions on the tactics and conduct of federal agents carrying it out.

What do you want to talk about?