BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
The developer of the downtown Broadway Corridor redevelopment zone in Long Branch is offering a program to help retail tenants of the zone develop better business skills.
The Incubator Retail Business Program is being offered to retail tenants in the two-block zone that extends from Second to Memorial Avenues and from Union Avenue to the north and Belmont Avenue to the south.
“We have already approached approximately 80 percent of the retailers to tell them we would like to work with them,” Patience O’Connor, the managing director for developer Broadway Arts Center (BAC), said last week.
“More than half of them have showed interest. We are working with three tenants today, but plan on a couple more in the upcoming months.”
The incubator program is designed to allow experts retained by BAC to work “hand in glove” on a weekly basis with the retailers on a development retail plan to better serve the customer base of their businesses, according to O’Connor.
“We want to show them how they can be a better retailer in the community,” she said. “We analyze their store and see what products the customers are buying and then develop a program to improve their sales and customer service.”
The program is only being offered to retail rental tenants, O’Connor said.
The three retail businesses that have signed up for the program to date are Casa De Carne & Mini Market at 157 Broadway, Montalvo’s Barber Shop at 129 Broadway and Mexican Mini Mart on Second Street. Casa De Carne co-owner Eliano Mesquita, who has been operating his meat store and mini market for almost two years, relocated his store from Liberty Street to Broadway seven months ago for a larger location.
He said BAC is helping him learn skills to improve his business.
“They are helping us make the store better,” he said. “They are making things look better and helping us move our shelves around.”
But Mesquita said he is unsure what will happen once the redevelopment of the area begins.
“What they are telling me is that they can help us in any way,” he said. “We have not talked about moving, we have not talked about money. I am thinking they will help us move somewhere.”
O’Connor said the primary goal of the incubator program is to broaden the community base of the downtown Broadway retail businesses.
“Many retailers only focus on their community base, whether it be Mexican or Portuguese,” O’Connor said.
“We think there is a real ability for these retailers to serve a much better community. All of their signage is usually only in the language of the owners. We want to have the signs in both languages.”
Plans for the estimated $180 million Broadway project call for the approximately 50 properties in the zone to be bulldozed and replaced with a thriving arts district, O’Connor said.
The zone will be anchored by two performing arts theaters. The former Paramount Theater, which has been the site of Siperstein’s, for over 40 years, could potentially become the new home of the Cornerstone Theater Company, based in Los Angeles, and the New Jersey Repertory Company will be in residence at 152 –154 Broadway. The buildings will be acquired by the developer and turned over to the city.
There will be 190,000 square-feet of retail, arts and restaurant space, which will be owned by BAC and leased to tenants, according to O’Connor.
The 500 residential units planned for the area will be owner occupied units and will be comprised of 100 affordable housing units, 56 moderate-income and 296 market-rate units. The remaining 100 units will be leased to Monmouth University for student housing.
“The residential units will be sold to teachers, nurses, police officers and other people who will live here year-round,” O’Connor said. “We are not building residential units for folks using it for weekends only.”
Over 1,400 parking spaces will be included in the project, O’Connor added.
The design plan for the project will be approved in November, according to O’Connor, who said BAC has been working with the city on the plan every step of the way.
The project is expected to break ground in the spring and will take place in three phases.
The first phase consists of the properties on Second Street and on the north side of Broadway. The second phase will include the Clem Summers building on Broadway down to Memorial Avenue and the final phase will be comprised of properties on Liberty Street and the west side of Memorial Avenue.
While the buildings in phase I are being redeveloped, the retailers who plan to participate in the incubator program will be temporarily relocated to sites in the second phase of the project.
Once construction is complete, the retailers will be moved back into a location in the first phase of the project and a lease will be worked out with BAC. The process will continue until all phases are complete.
But one business owner in the redevelopment zone said he is being excluded from the incubator program.
“I was never offered this program, Bill Leshowitz, who has owned 153 and 155 Broadway, which houses LaSierra Restaurant, Heads Up Barber Shop and two rental units for over 20 years, said, “It seems as if [BAC} is telling [building owners] to leave but working out deals with our tenants.”
Leshowitz, along with property owner Kevin Brown, who owns 162 Broadway which houses Garcia’s Music on the first floor and his residence on the second floor, have retained William J. Ward of Carlin & Ward, Florham Park, to study plans for the redevelopment zone.
Ward said once the study of the redevelopment is complete, Brown and Leshowitz will decide whether they will contest the taking of their properties, which Brown says is an abuse of eminent domain.
Retail owners will be paid the market value price for their buildings and offered a lease if they would like to continue operating in the zone, according to O’Connor, who said there are only three retail owner/operators in the zone.
“These building owners will be offered the opportunity to purchase a residential unit,” O’Connor said.
She continued that building owners will be offered market rate prices for their properties based on the appraisals and permission will be requested by BAC to contact their tenants as far as inquiring about the incubator program.
“There is a relocation plan issued through the city for everyone, rental or owner residential tenants, who have a place now,” O’Connor said. “We as developers have a financial obligation in relocating these tenants.”
She added that all the retailers she has been working with through the incubator program have had “a great spirit”.
“This is hard work and we are demanding,” she said. “We just want them to understand the full potential of their businesses.”

