By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer
GLORIA STRAVELLI Kerry Zukus, the founder of RiverCenter, is selling his Red Bank optometry practice and eye-care store.
While Red Bank is still abuzz with the news that Prown’s will close next month, another transition has quietly taken place.
Optician Kerry Zukus has sold Zukus One Stop Eye Care in English Plaza to Brigadoon Opticians Downtown, an optometry group that also has a Middletown location.
Zukus declined last week to talk about his future plans, except to say he’d been debating a career change for the past year.
"I’m not prepared to announce it yet. I will announce it when I can officially," he said, adding that he will remain in the greater Red Bank area.
In business in Red Bank since 1985, Zukus didn’t just found an optometry practice; he was the catalyst for a renaissance that has made the borough a regional and national model for downtown revitalization.
"I am the founder of Red Bank RiverCenter," said the Little Silver resident, who organized the downtown Special Improvement District after the state Legislature acted to spur downtown revitalization.
Zukus initially began his optometry practice on West Front Street, moving to English Plaza in 1987. An independent, he introduced a new concept to the area, he said.
"I had what is referred to as an optical superstore," he explained, adding that Zukus One Stop Eye Care offered several services under one roof — optometry exams, prescribing glasses and lenses, manufacturing lenses, and fitting lenses to frames.
"The concept of doing that all under one roof, of combining the retail and manufacturing components, at the time was considered a very new concept. It was the first one in Monmouth County to do so," he said, adding that national chains picked up on the idea a number of years later.
According to Zukus, customers of his independent eye care practice were mostly locals from Red Bank and surrounding towns.
"There tends to be, in the downtown, a lot of patient loyalty," he noted. "In a downtown location, you will start getting an entire family who come back year after year. You become the family doctor."
A native of eastern Pennsylvania, Zukus moved to Red Bank after marrying an area native and, when he tired of commuting to work in New York, decided to start his own local practice.
The town’s image was tarnished, but he wasn’t put off.
"Red Bank was being called Dead Bank, but they weren’t exactly praising Long Branch and Freehold," he recalled. "There were problems in the surrounding towns, some of which still remain. Red Bank had as much promise as any town," he explained.
Zukus soon became active in a downtown business group.
"I had literally just opened a business and within a year or two, was elected president of the town’s retail trade group, which was an arm of the Chamber of Commerce," he said.
A year earlier, the state Legislature had enacted a district management act that gave towns the ability to create Special Improvement Districts.
Twenty other states already had similar legislation, he said.
At the Chamber of Commerce offices, Zukus was handed a piece of mail that was an invitation to the inaugural meeting of a new downtown organization, Downtown New Jersey.
"It was supposed to be a meeting to which all the towns would send representatives to talk about the new legislation and how towns could use it," he said. "So I went as the representative from Red Bank.
"While there, I met some of the most wonderful people who have gone on to lead restoration efforts in other towns like Trenton and New Brunswick," he recalled. "It was a really heady time."
At Downtown New Jersey’s inaugural meeting, representatives from various towns introduced themselves, he said, and Zukus got a rude awakening.
"I stood up and said, ‘I’m from Red Bank,’ " he recounted. "People in the room snickered, and I will never forget that. That stuck with me. I never realized the perception outside our borders was that negative.
"When I started networking with the people from Downtown New Jersey, I started getting really excited about how this legislation could help Red Bank."
A Red Bank resident at the time, Zukus made a successful run for a seat on the Borough Council in 1989.
Zukus changed parties to run, aligning himself with Democrats Edward J. McKenna Jr., Pasquale Menna and Thomas Hintelman, because he said he believed in the Democrats’ vision for Red Bank.
"I thought they had a vision for Red Bank. I had been sharing with them some of the ideas that were out there. I was saying, ‘We can do this.’
"RiverCenter got its start politically the day that I got elected," he said. "I took the oath of office on Jan. 1, 1990, took my hand off the Bible at the organization meeting, and put together a study group."
The initial group was a small one that included representatives of the borough, residents, and landlords and merchants, he said.
The group met for several months in 1990 to explore the idea of creating a SID. Once the idea was embraced, a much larger group was assembled for planning sessions.
"We had 120 people at planning sessions, and they broke into subcommittees to study different aspects," Zukus said, adding that involving a broad cross-section is a prerequisite.
"This is the key that made it work," he said. "I am asked to speak about this process at other towns, and I preach that you have to bring together merchants, residents, landlords, and politicians from both parties, even if it is considered a one-party town.
"You have to diffuse cliques, break down barriers and get everybody in the loop. So we had a gazillion people involved, and everybody knew about it."
Difficult economic times actually helped the idea of forming a SID take hold, he added.
"It was the height of a recession and here we were saying, ‘Here’s this great idea; we’re going to raise our own taxes.’ The amazing thing is, it worked. Why? Because people were in a recession and they were scared to death about tomorrow."
Zukus called on contacts made through Downtown New Jersey.
"A handful of other districts were in place, and a lot of towns came to help us when we were starting to have public meetings." he said. "Their representatives visited and spoke about the SID to diffuse concerns. I’ve continued to do this for towns over the past 10 years because I feel it’s giving back.
Outreach to residents helped gain their support.
"The key was to get them to meetings, to make them feel they were stakeholders. You have to allow for there to be a ton of people in on Day 1 so they can say, ‘I remember the discussion. I was there in the beginning.’ " Zukus said he was successful in depoliticizing the issue.
"When I was managing McKenna’s mayoral campaign in 1990, I was head of the Democratic Club in Red Bank," he said. "I sought out my counterpart in the Republican organization and made sure I got him on board to come to meetings. I said, ‘Let’s keep this entire issue out of the campaign.’
"I’ve told people in other towns this is more important than partisan politics. I tell them, ‘This is going to save your town. Argue about another issue. Don’t argue about this.’ "
Zukus’ efforts paid off. Borough Council support for the SID was unanimous, and a resolution authorizing the creation of the SID and the downtown alliance to manage it was passed in January 1991.
Serving initially as vice president and a director, Zukus took a step back once the organization was up and running smoothly, choosing to leave the board to create opportunities for new members.
"I decided not to run for re-election because there were so many people working in committees who were getting so excited, and had such energy, and there was no place for them," he explained.
The decision gave Zukus more time to devote to his family and is one he doesn’t regret, he said.
"I have no qualms about the direction of RiverCenter," he noted. "It’s been in good hands. They’re doing a great job."
Zukus said talk about vacancies in the downtown is disingenuous.
"In the 1980s, places were vacant for two years. Now, vacancies are not even real vacancies," he noted.
"Nationwide the attitude toward downtowns has changed greatly," he added.
"I’ll never forget one of the first things we did was to go to the International Conference of Shopping Centers," Zukus recalled. "We were the only downtown that went. It was amazing. People were walking up to us saying, ‘Wait a minute, you’re not a mall, you’re a town.’ " They thought we were strange. Now it’s a common thing. We were trendsetters."