Chapel Street Motors Changes into a Bank
Chapel Street Motors, formerly at 25 S. Chapel St., seemed like an institution in Newark. It had been there for a few decades, and was the smallest and most affordable place to buy a used car in the area.
A few months ago, signs started appearing about the lot where all the used cars were parked, with the word “clearance” written on them. It didn’t take too long for the lot to empty out.
In September, I saw a paragraph on the city council agenda pages, where Commerce Bank had applied to subdivide the property, and build drive throughs.
Over the past few weeks, crews have been busy clearing the property, and constructing a new bank. Workers were even out on Thanksgiving Day putting together the new facility.
Traffic can get kind of busy at this intersection of Delaware Avenue and Chapel Street at certain times of the day. One of the contingencies that Commerce Bank had to accept in order to be allowed to have 3 drive through lanes at the bank was to widen part of South Chapel Street to three lanes.
I’m not sure that there are too many places that you can buy a used car at in Northern Delaware anymore. More and more dealers are touting “certified, pre-owned” cars.