What Happened to This Abandoned Build Project on Rt. 28 in Hartwick?
Anyone who regularly makes the trek to Cooperstown via Route 28 is familiar with this building-- a building that, for some unknown reason, was abandoned mid-construction years ago.
The building is located in Hartwick, along Route 28, between Schuyler Lake and Fly Creek. Construction started sometime in the early 2000s. It looks like it could've served any number of purposes, if completed. Was it supposed to be a single-story family home? A restaurant? A banquet hall? A funeral home? Most of us who make this drive regularly can't help but look and scratch our heads. Questions abound.
It has fairly ornate doors and windows, but no siding. No telling what the interior looks like, but from the outside, it looks to have been about three-quarters completed. For a build project to have been abandoned that close to completion, something unfortunate must have happened. So what DID happen?
According to users in the Otsego County, NY Facebook page, it was supposed to be a event center operated by the former owners of Portobello's restaurant in Fly Creek. Funds evidently dried up during the project, and the build was abandoned. Portobello's served Mediterranean cuisine to the Fly Creek & Cooperstown area for 15 years, before closing sometime in 2017, which you can read about here.
It begs the question if someone would be able to swoop in and salvage this structure, considering it's been sitting unfinished and exposed for years. There is a "FOR SALE" sign out front currently, in case anyone might be so inclined to rescue it.