| Dress
for success is BTC's aim for Downtown
Jersey
Journal, By Lauren DeFilippo
Monday,
August 23, 2004 -- The Bayonne Town Center is pushing forward
with its initiatives to revitalize the Downtown shopping district
of the city.
At the
heart of these initiatives is the organization's Jump Start
Facade Improvement Program, unveiled at its Aug. 12 meeting.
The program
is designed to make it as easy as possible for store owners
to get started, said David Milder, the BTC's program adviser.
The city
of Bayonne has offered local business owners monetary grants,
through the Department of Community Development, to assist
with facade improvements since 1983, said Ruby Snead, senior
loan adviser. The program was later revised, in 1999, in order
to provide greater financial assistance to town center merchants,
though that funding came with stricter design guidelines.
Currently,
the grant offered by the Office of Community Development to
town center merchants matches 50 percent of the cost of the
renovations, with a maximum amount of $15,000 for corner stores,
and a maximum amount of $10,000 for all others.
"It's
an extraordinary investment to improve the look of Bayonne,"
said Michael O'Connor, executive director of the Bayonne Economic
Development Corp. "This would be one of the premiere
facade programs in the state of New Jersey."
If more
merchants do get involved in the program, Milder plans to
seek out more funding - from the city's state-sponsored Urban
Enterprise Zone Program, and private sponsors - to expand
it even further.
In an
attempt to stimulate more interest in the city's existing
program, the BTC voted to enter into a $12,000 contract with
architect Margaret Westfield. Westfield, who specializes in
historic buildings, and has owned her own firm since 1988,
will supplement the services of architect Walter Chatham,
who is already a consultant for the BTC, and has helped to
develop the organization's design guidelines.
Previously,
the BTC has referred and encouraged business owners to seek
out the available assistance offered by the Office of Community
Development, but by hiring Westfield, they hope to expedite
that process.
Milder
wants to get merchants excited about the prospect of what
their storefronts could look like, and will have Westfield's
team put together sketches for interested store owners of
the potential results of the facade improvement program.
As added
benefits, Westfield's renderings will give the town center
business owners the opportunity to gauge the cost of the alterations
- enabling them to know the amount of the grant they need
from the Office of Community Development, as well as the materials
that would be used.
Westfield's
renderings will also be consistent with the BTC's guidelines
for town center structures, omitting the need for a revision
phase.
Milder
called the Jump Start Program a marketing effort that helps
local architects, making it easier for them to get work, without
having to spend time on the preliminary planning stages.
He also
said that Westfield's goal would be to work to combine not
only what is suitable for the building, but also its function,
and the proprietor's own ideas, in a working dialogue.
Additionally,
Westfield will also be responsible for illustrating the BTC's
design guidelines, making them more "user friendly."
Westfield,
who has been an architect with the New Jersey Main Street
Program for 12 years, said that she is looking forward to
working with the BTC and getting to know a new community and
a new set of buildings.
She said
she likes the challenge of finding a way to blend in "new
and old in such a way that it all fits together."
"This
is going to be an opportunity on a limited number of buildings
to show what potential the historical building can have to
work as modern storefronts, and accommodate modern uses and
still maintain the character that makes Bayonne what it is,"
she said.
The Bayonne Town Center Management Corporation, which
sponsors the ribbon-cutting, is a non-profit organization,
which manages the day-to-day operations of the district between
17th and 30th Streets. Its mission is improving and enhancing
the business within those areas. In addition to revitalizing
the area, the corporation is also responsible for providing
public relations, advertising, and business recruitment and
retention for area merchants. For further information about
the Town Center, please call 201-339-9409
or contact through the website, info@bayonnetowncenter.com.
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