Otto Leuschel's Regeneration of Germantown, NY

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Written By H. Pike Oliver

On Friday, July 20, 2012, I took several photos on Main Street in Germantown, NY, about 115 miles north of New York City (Manhattan). Two "gems" on this little street are Otto's Market (established as Central Market in 1927 and reestablished as Otto's Market in 2006) and the Germantown Variety Store (established 2012.) Both businesses are owned and operated by Otto Leuschel who left an important job at Whole Foods to become the spark plug for the revitalization of this small Hudson Valley town. Otto is doing great work in this little burg.  I did not get a chance to ask Otto who his customers are, but I suspect affluent part-time exurbanites and weekend vacationers from the greater New York area are the source of much of his business.

H. Pike Oliver

H. Pike Oliver focuses on master-planned communities. He is co-author of Transforming the Irvine Ranch: Joan Irvine, William Pereira, Ray Watson, and THE BIG PLAN, published by Routledge in 2022.

Early in his career, Pike worked for public agencies, including the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, where he was a principal contributor to An Urban Strategy for California. For the next three decades, he was involved in master-planned development on the Irvine Ranch in Southern California, as well as other properties in western North America and abroad.

Beginning in 2009, Pike taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in Urban and Regional Studies. He relocated to Seattle in 2013 and, from 2016 to 2020, served as a lecturer in the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington, where he also served as its chair.

Pike graduated from San Francisco State University's urban studies and planning program and received a master's degree in urban planning from UCLA. He is a member of the American Planning Association and the Urban Land Institute and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

https://urbanexus.com
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