Chrysler bought the facility in 1938 to use as a parts depot. Construction began in January 1951 for a plant to produce tanks with the first M48 Patton driven to Army Ordnance on April 11, 1952. A five-year phase-out after the Korean War brought the facility and tank production to an end by 1961. The facility was used for the production of Plymouth and Dodge automobiles starting in 1957. By 1961, construction began on a 1.5 million square foot Plymouth plant. A variety of Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth models were produced at this facility over the years, totaling nearly 7 million cars. To prepare the Newark plant for production of the 1997 Dodge Durango, a sport utility vehicle the company invested US$623 million that included a new training facility, production simulation building, a paint shop, as well as upgrades to the test track, a new material handling fleet, and new controls on the assembly line. On February 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced that the plant would lose one working shift in 2007, and that it would be scheduled to be shut down completely in 2009. In October 2008, the company announced that the closure would be moved up to the end of 2008 citing a slowdown in both the economy and demand for large vehicles. The neighboring Mopar parts distribution center also closed in 2008. On October 24, 2009, The University of Delaware announced it had signed a deal to buy the Chrysler facility for US$24.25 million. The property is next to the university's south campus. Plans are to use it as a research and development site and for the future expansion of the university. The history department at the University of Delaware and the Hugh M. Morris Library used a class of graduate and undergraduate students to conduct interviews of eleven former autoworkers employed at the Newark Assembly plant. The University has decommissioned and developed the site as its Science, Technology, and Advanced Research campus. In 2012, Bloom Energy, makers of the Bloom Energy Server held groundbreaking for a new manufacturing plant at the former auto assembly site. In 2014, the first tenant of a revitalized Chrysler building will be the College of Health Sciences and a health-related complex. On November 19, 2015, the Digital Infrastructure Management company SevOne announced its move to the STAR Campus
