Warm weather, cold beer, good food within reach on Wilmington's Riverfront

If you've been down to Wilmington's Riverfront on a warm spring day recently, the heat wasn't causing hallucinations.

Those sidewalks really were bustling with a mix of families, couples and singles.

And as your stomach probably already announced, the growing wait times at the restaurants lining the Christina River are undeniable, especially if you are clamoring for an in-demand patio table.

It's all enough to leave longtime visitors shaking their heads in amazement.

After all, it was more than 20 years ago when the redevelopment of the area began, pulling it from its neglected industrial past to a place where people not only want to play, but also live.

Even before the 20,000-square-foot Constitution Yards Beer Garden opened for its third season last weekend, warm spring weekends have pulled big crowds down to the Riverfront.

It's almost a new city tradition.

While there are plenty of people where there once were none, drawn to the area by more Riverfront destinations, housing and lodging, the Riverfront is still not quite the nighttime go-to spot like the city's Trolley Square area.

But this is the time of year when the area just south of downtown gives Trolley Square a run for its money, thanks to the beer garden and the large outdoor stage at the former FireStone Roasting House, recently re-branded as Docklands Riverfront. 

Bob Warburton was at the opening of Constitution Yards last Friday, leaving his home near Trolley Square to relax outdoors on the Riverfront -- a move once unthinkable.

He remembers the early days of the former Big Kahuna in the mid-90s, now the home to the Delaware Children's Museum. It was one of the first places to open in the area and at first, it wasn't cool to be seen there.

"If you saw someone you knew, you'd say, 'Oh, my friend wanted to come here,'" says Warburton, who now finds himself on waiting lists at restaurants such as Del Pez, Iron Hill and Big Fish around those same grounds. "It was a wasteland down there. Now it's like a little second city."

Joe Valenti, marketing manager for the nonprofit Riverfront Development Corporation of Delaware, started working on the Riverfront about a dozen years ago for the Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league baseball team.

At the time, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant had only been open a few years and the popular Big Kahuna nightclub, also branded as Kahunaville, was closing.

"When I first started, the Shipyard Shops were the attraction outside of Frawley Stadium," Valenti says. "And then as the apartments and condos came in, people started coming down there more and looking for things to do."

Since then, new restaurants, entertainment draws and housing have piled in. In turn, it has slowly grown into the makings of a real community with roots, in addition to being a destination for outsiders.

And there's a reason why the crowds come in the spring and summer: the place was made for it.

With cooler temperatures near the water, the Riverfront is loaded up with outdoor activities and businesses from the beer garden and Riverwalk Mini Golf to the River Taxi and Riverboat Queen dinner cruises.

Sit-down outdoor dining is available just about anywhere with a view of the river, including the Banks' Seafood Kitchen (formerly Harry's Seafood Grill), Docklands, Del Pez Mexican Gastropub, Starbucks Coffee, Joe's Crab Shack, Iron Hill, Big Fish Grill on the Riverfront, Timothy's Riverfront Grill and Ubon Thai Cuisine.

Combined with old standbys such as Blue Rocks games and indoor rainy day options such as the Stratosphere Trampoline Park, Penn Cinema IMAX and the Delaware Children's Museum, the Riverfront is truly starting to find its groove 22 years after the official redevelopment push first began.

Newark-area resident Jaimie Watts took advantage of a warm Saturday last weekend and went to the opening of Constitution Yards with her boyfriend and a couple of friends, stopping on their way home from a Pennsylvania lunch on a whim.

At 2 p.m., there was one open bar and a small line. After they left for a stroll along the Riverwalk, past the big outdoor crowd at Iron Hill's Made In Delaware beer festival, they returned to the beer garden around 3:30 p.m. only to find that things had changed.

"When we went back, it was like, 'Holy crap.' It was absolutely packed," Watts says. "They had opened a second bar, but the lines were so long -- it was insane. We had never seen so many people."

In March, Watts began a new job on the Riverfront as the events manager for the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce. As someone who is often visiting downtown and the Riverfront at night, she was surprised to find its as busy during the day.

"I was not expecting that," she says, predicting even more people in the area once the 345-foot wooden bike and pedestrian bridge across the Christina River connecting Riverfront to New Castle opens later this year near Frawley Stadium.

(Another bridge -- a $38 million 470-foot bridge for vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists -- is expected to open in late 2019 connecting the Riverfront with the city's Southbridge neighborhood.)

Everyone on the Riverfront's sidewalks aren't visitors or downtown employees on a break like it once was.

Residential buildings have been sprouting like springtime flowers.

Buccini/Pollin Group has nearly 600 Riverfront units in The Residences at Harlen Flats, The Residence at Justison Landing and The Residences at Christina Landing alone. And while they remain kings of downtown and Riverfront development, Capano Residential will open its 68-unit building -- 101 Avenue of the Arts -- on May 15, not far from the Riverfront Market.

Just as more people are living day-to-day lives at the Riverfront than any time in recent memory, an influx in Riverfront hotels is also adding to the mix. 

Buccini/Pollin opened its 10-story Westin Wilmington attached to the Chase Center in 2014. Currently, Big Fish Restaurant Group is teaming up with Kennett Square-based ONIX Group, building a $23 million, 122-unit hotel next to Big Fish on the Riverfront.

With a residential and retail blend that seems to be working, producing one of the fastest-growing areas in the city, it all may seem like a sudden change, except that it really isn't.

Warburton puts it this way: "The Riverfront is a 25-year overnight sensation."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).