Farm-to-Table-to-Hopewell

Brick Farm Market

On May 14, 2014

GOLD SPONSOR

The $3.2-million Brick Farm Market is Hopewell Borough’s newest treasure. Located at 65 Broad Street, it was once the home of Malek Chevrolet, a small, family-owned-and-operated new and used car dealer and a landmark in Hopewell’s landscape – a landscape that is a blend of yesteryear’s historic relics and today’s progress, much as the Brick Farm Market is.

The 1950s era car dealership building has been both preserved and transformed; it’s now a state-of-the-art facility that looks as though it has always been there. The building’s adaptive reuse has perfectly married the old and the new, with its location complementing, not clashing with, the community and its needs. Indeed the market, which opened in spring 2013, is truly “Hopewell,” which is enjoying a “reuse renaissance.” A business district streetscape renovation was recently completed that permanently preserves the town’s historic charm and character.

Jon and Robin McConaughy’s Brick Farm Market farm-to-table mission, which includes the nearby Double Brook Farm and soon-to-open nearby Brick Market Tavern, is planned to be fully sustainable – farm-to-market-to-table and back-to-farm in the form of compost and feed. It is a model of organic and sustainable ingenuity from its solar, geothermal and high efficiency facility components to its locally grown or made-on-the-premises mantra. Market-goers are impressed with the offerings of the organic market, with its farm products and locally grown and made fresh baked goods, meats and cheeses.

Now firmly embedded in the community as a stakeholder and major employer, the Brick Farm Market was renovated by local tradesmen and professionals. It currently employs 20 full-time and 5 part-time workers. All materials for the project were purchased locally and, when feasible, were manufactured within a 15 mile radius.

Hopewell has welcomed the McConaughys – their vision, their partnership with the community and their commitment to its success. The borough is confident that as the momentum builds and more shoppers discover the market’s fresh food alternatives to supermarket produce and packaged foods, the business and the community will inevitably flourish together.

ARCHITECT
Outerbridge/Morgan Architecture, LLC
Skillman

BUILDER
Jade Construction
Ringoes

NOMINATOR
Michele Hovan, Borough Administrator
Borough of Hopewell

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