Officials' strategy to build around the Nexus Center's success

Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch
·3 min read

Oneida County wants to tap into the experiences of the 410,000 people who have visited the Utica University Nexus Center in Utica to determine how to develop the area around it.

It launched an online survey on Tuesday to find out what services and amenities visitors would like to see in the area surrounding the center.

“The Nexus Center’s success has created opportunity for even more growth,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said. “By hearing directly from people who frequent the state-of-the-art facility – some from hundreds of miles away – we will be able to understand not only what brought them there, but what will lead to an even better experience and ultimately bring them back.”

Local officials see the Utica University Nexus Center, seen here in a 2022 OD file photo, which offers both ice and turf playing fields, as a catalyst for further development in the surrounding area. To decide what kind of businesses will work best, Oneida County, the Upper Mohawk Valley Auditorium Authority and Utica University have launched a survey of people who visit the center to see what restaurants, shops, entertainment or other businesses they'd like to see nearby.

The 170,000-square-foot Nexus Center, which opened last November on Whitesboro Street next to the Adirondack Bank Center at Utica Memorial Auditorium, is an indoor sports facility most often used so far for ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer. It hosts sporting events such as tournaments, classes, training and ice hockey games with both the Utica University women’s team and the Utica Jr. Comets.

The county, Mohawk Valley Garden, the Upper Mohawk Valley Auditorium Authority and Utica University partnered to create and run the center.

And there’s already been a big impact on local tourism and the local economy as the center has become recognized as a premier destination, Oneida County Tourism President Sarah Foster Calero said.

“When visitors attend events here, they visit local hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses, which benefits all of us,” she said. “The Nexus Center is a testament to the power of strategic investments in tourism, enhancing our region’s visibility on the global stage.”

The new survey will help everyone to build on the center’s success, she said.

Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri already announced a nearby major development project earlier this month. The $20 million, mixed-use development project on Hotel Street in Bagg's Square will include retail space on the ground floor and 70 loft-style apartments.

First announced during Picente’s State of the County address earlier this year and launched at a press conference on Tuesday, the survey is meant to guide the county, developers and entrepreneurs as they figure out how to capitalize on the Nexus Center and invest in stores, restaurants, entertainment spots and other businesses in the area around the center.

The five-to-10-minute survey will ask participants for demographic information and also about: the event that brought them to the center; how they got there; accessibility of the center as well as traffic and safety around it; dining, shopping and lodging options; and other things they did during their visit.

It can accessed through QR codes posted in the Nexus Center, mobile phones to which it will be pushed through geofencing technology, or emails sent to participants in sports tournaments and other events.

The results are expected to be presented early in 2024.

The center has already made “enormous contributions,” university President Todd Pfannestiel said, “to the transformation of downtown Utica, the ongoing revitalization of the Oneida County economy and the improved quality of life for the region.”

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Survey of Nexus Center visitors could help Utica to grow even more