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Hi Ryan, Can you believe it has already been a year since you helped fund a loan to support the launch of Astoria Food Hub? After purchasing the 27,000 sq. ft. Mason, Ehrman & Co. warehouse in downtown Astoria, we have been hard at work building out the space. We’ve made a ton of progress over these past several months and are getting really close to opening the doors to the public. We knew going in that a community-oriented project of this scale would present plenty of challenges along the way. Between the expected complexities of renovating an 85+-year-old building on the coast and unexpected global supply chain disruptions, we’ve navigated more than a few curveballs in the past year. But we forge on because this food hub is too important to our local community and the regional food system to not see it through. As we enter the home stretch, we want to ensure we have all of the resources we need to succeed. Simply put – additional capital is needed to push us across the finish line and open the doors. So we have invited Steward, our ongoing financial partner, to play an expanded role by investing equity into the project and taking on greater management responsibilities. And I’m happy to announce that they’ve agreed to provide that financial support and that Ryan Anderson from Steward will be joining our leadership team as we prepare for opening day and beyond. In addition to sharing our commitment to creating a healthy and more equitable local food system on Oregon’s north coast, one of Steward’s strengths is its ability to provide a wide range of business support for human-scale food enterprises. Working even closer together in this critical stage of development will better equip us to ensure that participating lenders continue to receive loan repayments, that financial risk for lenders and other stakeholders is mitigated, and that we have the resources needed for opening the doors of the new Astoria Food Hub soon. We can’t thank you enough for your ongoing support. If you have questions or concerns, I invite you to reach out directly to me or Ryan Anderson at Steward. Together we’re building a more equitable and resilient food system. All the best, Jared Gardner Astoria Food Hub | Co-founder Ryan Anderson Steward | SVP Services |
