Two years ago, the staff at Otsego Now began working with the late Mayor Dick Miller on the idea of an agricultural center in downtown Oneonta that would be a central feature of a revitalized Market Street. Late last year, Otsego Now issued a Request for Proposals for professional services to prepare a feasibility study and economic development strategy for the prospective food hub – the first step toward making that shared vision into reality.

We received several very strong proposals and eventually narrowed the field to two. To help us make this difficult choice, we assembled a committee composed of Otsego Now CEO Sandy Mathes, Otsego Now COO Elizabeth Horvath, IDA Board member and foodie Devin Morgan, Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig and Foothills Performing Arts Center Chair Louisa Montanti.

The team eventually chosen consists of four outstanding service providers: Karen Karp & Partners, Elan Planning, Delaware Engineering and Hugh A. Boyd, architect.

We are excited to have Karen Karp of Karen Karp & Partners on our planning team. KK&P is the nation’s leading problem-solver for food-related enterprises, programs and policies. KK&P has served an impressive and diverse list of projects from New York City’s Wholesale Farmer’s Market to Seed Capital Kentucky’s West Louisville FoodPart (in progress). Closer to home, the firm also served as facilitator to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NYC-NYS Regional Food Hub Task Force. Ms. Karp herself is a respected entrepreneur, project manager, and food business consultant, and brings 25 years of specialized experience in restaurant and food service management to the table.

The Elan team is led by Lisa Nagle, known in the planning community for her dynamic and engaging presence. She has 23 years of experience in strategic planning, project visioning, goal setting and economic development. The Elan team particularly excels at consensus-building, community revitalization, project strategy, grant writing and using GIS systems to propel community planning, site development and resource management projects.

Also on board for this project will be Delaware Engineering, offering qualified professional and technical staff to provide civil and environmental engineering expertise to meet any infrastructure or environmental challenges this project may present. Founded in 1987, Delaware Engineering offers a broad range of environmental services, including industrial decontamination and demolition, and environmental review and permitting.

Finally, architect Hugh A. Boyd wraps up this all-star lineup. Boyd is the celebrated designer behind the Market at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, the Portland Public Market in Maine, and the Ardmore Farmers Market in Pennsylvania. He has more than 25 years’ experience and has won numerous design and planning awards throughout the country and around the world.

Between them, these professionals have over a century of experience in design and planning. Otsego Now could not ask for a better, more experienced team to help us launch the initial stage of Oneonta Food Hub project.

The early phase of the project will involve analyzing the feasibility of a food hub on Market Street and determining the best functions and services that such a food hub could provide for the region. Our team will begin by defining the specifics required by the concept, analyzing what is already in place, determining infrastructure needs (such as property, transportation access, utilities, equipment, capital needs), and considering probable product output and resulting job creation. The team will follow those initial assessments with a much more detailed site analysis and a much more refined market analysis. We expect a final draft of the study to be completed by spring or early summer 2016.

The process should net an idea of what kind of food hub would be most viable and sustainable, as well as where such a food hub would best be located. We’re confident that the team will provide valuable direction for this critical piece of Oneonta’s revitalization.

Meanwhile, late last year, Otsego Now was awarded another $700,000 ESD grant to move the Oneonta Food Hub project beyond the feasibility study stage. The funds will be used to acquire and prepare the property determined to be the best site for the project. We expect the end product to be a centrally located facility with a business management structure that will facilitate the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution and marketing of locally and regionally produced foods and beverages, including retail craft food and beer establishments, and research and development connected to valued-added food production.