Sunday afternoon found my family and I enjoying the melodious sounds of Jaded Acoustic Duo, while sipping delicious beverages at the Iron Vines Winery in Sunbury. During moments such as these it’s commonplace for me to wax philosophical, and my thoughts focused in on the notion of adaptive reuse. The idea being that existing, often well established, sometimes rickety buildings and sites are shored up, reconfigured, and given new life.
In the case of Iron Vines, located at 322 Raspberry Ave., Sunbury, a former feed mill and store with a martial arts studio upstairs is now re-casted as a funky collection of created and found art, with an on-site winery offering a wide craft beer selection, restaurant, which includes an entertainment space downstairs and a cool, upscale wedding and special event venue upstairs. Thinking of the Greater Susquehanna Valley there are locations not unlike Iron Vines in every community.
We are truly fortunate to be blessed with so many creative people who like Frank Lloyd Wright are willing to put their equity, both in terms of sweat and finances, behind the common sense of adaptive reuses of existing sites and spaces.
Last week’s announcement by the Evangelical Community Hospital related to the next phase for the former Country Cupboard Restaurant, is another great example of this common sense, even inspired, approach to adaptive reuse. With several easy connections from Evangelical’s main hospital and buildings to what may become a ‘north campus’ we are witnessing the early stages of what might possibly be the ‘Roaring 20-20s Campus of Caring’ all built around Evangelical’s long tradition of world class healthcare and strategic alliances all presented in a rural setting.
Modern healthcare tends to be delivered vertically, so necessarily the sprawling hospitality and retail operation needs to be reconsidered. Given that all the other infrastructure, most importantly parking, will remain in place, this site is also an excellent example of adapted and sustainable reuse.
Congratulations to Evangelical for their common sense, visionary leadership both in terms of keeping us all healthy and in serving as an uncommonly superb example of what makes our area such a great place to live, work, and play.
Our best days lie just ahead.
