‘Like a new planet’: WHYY News to debut new Delaware documentary, ‘Resurrecting Riverside’

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The Riverside public housing neighborhood and the commercial corridor in the Northeast section of Wilmington have long been known for poverty, crime and despair.

But now the once-thriving area — home of long-gone swank auto dealerships, a professional baseball stadium, and a massive shopping center — is undergoing a monumental revitalization with hundreds of millions of dollars of investment.

WHYY News has been chronicling the initiative known as REACH Riverside since its launch four years ago.

And next week, a WHYY News half-hour television documentary about the challenging transformation, “Resurrecting Riverside,” will debut. The show will premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 pm., and air again that night at 11 p.m., as well as Friday, Oct. 25, at 5 p.m. (Click on the video at the top of this story for a 30-second preview.)

The show will explore the collaborative effort by neighborhood and business leaders, educators, politicians, policymakers and residents. Hosted by WHYY News investigative reporter Cris Barrish, “Resurrecting Riverside” explores the past, assesses the present and looks toward the future.

The centerpiece of the effort is tearing down the 300 low-slung rundown units and building a 700-home community called Imani Village.

But the scope encompasses the entire Northeast Boulevard corridor.

There’s a new skills and social/rec center for teens, and a new STEM Hub will open next year on the grounds of a charter elementary school.

Kingswood Community Center, long an anchor for kids and seniors, has broken ground on a $56 million state-of-the-art facility.

An electronics recycling business and a produce store have sprouted, but reviving the boulevard is shaping up as the most serious challenge.

“Our charge is really to drive this vision of a holistic revitalization of the Riverside neighborhood,” said Logan Herring, who runs Kingswood and now oversees REACH Riverside while guiding the revival.

“And so that includes housing, it is education,” he said. It’s “that cradle-to-college career pipeline, community health, which includes economic vitality, workforce development, economic development, just everything to be a vibrant, thriving neighborhood, not just surviving.”

Lorrie Dennis has already moved from the old Riverside to the new Imani Village.

“I think it will make a difference with people over here,’’ Dennis said while sweeping the sidewalk in front of her new home. “It just seems like when you come across the street, you are in like a new environment. It’s like a new planet.”