The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Distinguished service
ONEIDA >> From riding bikes around the downtown area as children to owning and operating their own ophthalmology practice, John Costello Jr. and Patrick Costello are inexorably tied to the City of Oneida.
Now, decades after they patrolled the city downtown on their bikes in search of a pickup baseball game at Maxwell Field, a dip in the Chapman Pool at Vets Field, or a scoop of ice cream, the Costello brothers are set to be recognized for their professional contributions to the city that raised them. The hometown brothers will be honored for their Costello Eye Physicians & Surgeons practice at the Greater Oneida Chamber of Commerce’s annual Distinguished Service
Award dinner on Friday, Nov. 4, starting at 6 p.m. at the Kallet Civic Center.
Each year, the Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual or business for its hard work, dedication and positive impact in the community. The Costellos will accept the award on behalf of their practice, located on the second floor of the Oneida Plaza Building at 131 Main St. One of the more prominent structures on Main Street, the practice draws anywhere from200 to 250 people a day to the city downtown, John Jr. says.
“Fantastic,” John Jr. said of the honor. “We both appreciate the recognition.”
His brother was similarly pleased to be recognized by his hometown.
“Very exciting, I am definitely happy to win the award.” Patrick said. “It means a lot to me growing up in the Oneida. I asked about previous award winners and found out we were in good company.”
John Jr. opened the practice in 1995, bringing his skills as an ophthalmologist — an eye surgeon, not an optometrist, he clarified — to the original Route 5 location next to Oneida Healthcare.
“We knew the area had a need, so we came back to fill the need,” John Jr. said, explaining why they were drawn back to Oneida.
After nearly 20 years of serving people — Patrick joined his brother’s practice in 2004 - on Route 5, the Costellos moved their practice to its current home in January of 2013 to provide more office and parking space for their patients. John Jr. said that in the mid-2000s, they realized their old office space was becoming “overcrowded” and began looking for “some way to expand.” Following almost two years of negotiating and planning, they purchased the office space and parking spaces before moving into their current home in January.
“For years, the city has talked about needing an anchor for downtown,” John Jr. said. “Being hometown kids, we wanted to be anchors. The hope was we could bring other businesses downtown.”
Now, Costello Eye Physicians & Surgeons employ nearly 40 people with 27 at the Oneida practice and an additional 15 at the surgery center in Rome, and while they both enjoy their careers and hometown, each of the brothers is spending time on other projects, continuing their investment in the City of Oneida.
John Jr. is a board member of the local non-profit Oneida City Center Committee, or OC3, a group that has its sights set on changing the feelings regarding the city center, re-energizing downtown development and improvement efforts. Run by a five-person board of directors, OC3’s mission has three specific elements it will target: beautification, awareness and security. John Jr. said the group has a vision of tapping into the nanotechnology developments in Marcy by creating a “mini-Armory Square” modeled after Syracuse’s efforts to revitalize its downtown by putting quality shops or businesses on the main floor of historic buildings with mid to high-end apartments above those businesses. He sees a similar possibility in the City of Oneida downtown with its unique, historic architecture.
“From here to Marcy, there is no other community with buildings like these,” John Jr. said, adding that he would like to see more businesses come to the city as a means of attracting younger generations to live in Oneida. “If OC3 can help facilitate that, it a win-win. We remember when all the storefronts were open.”
Like his brother, Patrick hopes that new businesses in the city will keep popping up, creating a ripple effect in which more buildings are renovated, taken off the market, and put back into use. His most recent business venture in the city downtown is a barista-style cafe with a full lunch menu that he hopes to open in late November or early December on 125 Farrier Ave. Patrick selected the location for the building’s history and design. Built close to 1919 and with a newly renovated interior, Patrick thinks “people will be pleasantly surprised” with the new location, adding that it will “add something new and different downtown.”
“The goal is that more businesses are doing the same, and it will kind of be contagious, giving more incentive for the next building to get renovated,” Patrick said.