Although Montclair BID can’t haggle on rents with downtown landlords, they caninject a little life in the otherwise bleak landscape of vacant street-level storefronts. Above is the prototype design of “For Sale” and “For Rent’ banners to be posted along Bloomfield Avenue to bring a unified look and a sense of identity to the downtown area. (The final design will be selected soon.) The new signage is just one of the vacancy reduction initiatives Montclair BID’s newly formed Vacancy Committee is undertaking to make the area look more attractive to new businesses and bring new customers to the negotiation table.
What’s the cost of commercial properties these days? No surprise, it’s all about location, location, location.
Montclair BID director Tom Lonergan says depending on “where” downtown, properties can cost as little as $18 per square foot, but in the center, prices can climb to $35 or more. “The average going rate is $25-$28 per square foot,” Lonergan said.
With so many ground floor vacancies dotting Montclair center, the BID formed a task force to work on reducing the commercial vacancy rate. Chaired by Jerry Sweeney of Sweeney Lev, other members of the Vacancy Committee are Sue Schultz, property owner, Sharon Gill, Realtor, Janett Hunter, TD Bank, Suzanne Miller, resident, Phil Cantor, business owner, and Sharda Ramharack, business owner.
This group recently canvassed the downtown area door-by-door to inventory the location and condition of vacant storefronts. They’re taking a pro-active stance talking to landlords, suggesting ways to make the property more desirable, providing information on loans and grants available for new awnings, renovations, etc. Montclair BID will even advertise some spaces online and in regional publications. And in addition to standardized signage, the BID also wants to see local art displayed in vacant properties.
The committee is maintaining a monthly database of all available ground floor retail and upper floor professional space in Montclair Center, and will use that information to review spaces with prospective businesses then connect them with landlords. They might even get into the staging game – working with owners to clean up vacant space to make it more presentable, and remove graffiti.
Lonergan says he wants to work with downtown property owners to determine objectives for the space and help to secure new tenants.
“The overall retail climate is beginning to show a pulse, and there has been corresponding interest by businesses hoping to secure space while it is abundantly available and, hopefully, more affordable than in years past,” says Lonergan.
“Our commercial vacancy rate, while stabilizing, still looms above 10%. Corresponding declines in sales and foot traffic, while generally less precipitous than a year ago, are still cause for great concern. And while some new shops and restaurants have opened their doors for business this year, far too many of our existing businesses continue to struggle
to survive,” says Lonergan.
Lonergan named a few of the hot properties just waiting for the right business to move in: “I’d love to see the former WaMu space at 460 Bloomfield, the corner property at 295 Bloomfield across from Lackawanna Plaza, and the former Magicolor shop at the corner of Bloomfield and Park filled with great tenants ASAP. And of course the DCH site, but, that’s for a whole different story.”
And what about the soon to be vacant PNC bank? “It’s a great old space…a high-end restaurant or possibly a gallery would make a nice fit.”
Not every business would be welcome, however. Town ordinances prohibit the following businesses at street level in the C-1 Central Business Zone:
A. Drive-in or drive-through restaurants.
B. Adult entertainment.
C. Tattoo parlors, including body piercing establishments.
D. New and use automobile sales, automobile rentals, automobile service stations, repair establishments and automobile washing establishments.
E. Manufacturing, research and development, wholesale trade or warehouse establishments and bus and truck depots.
F. Storage establishments, including mini-storage warehouses.
G. Pawn shops.
H. Check-cashing shops.
I. The retail or wholesale sale of weapons or firearms, as the same are defined in N.J.S.A. 2C:39-1.
J. Drive-through or drive-in banks.
“The C-1 Business Zone covers most of Montclair Center, except east of Grove Street. There, the C-1 Community Zone is the law of the land and is slightly more liberal in its allowed uses, such as professional offices,” says Lonergan. “The end goal will obviously be to help reduce the downtown commercial vacancy rate while reinforcing Montclair Center’s foundation of quality shops and restaurants.”
Shouldn’t Obama just order the commercial rents to be reduced? Isn’t that how this type of thing is handled now?
The landlords need to get a grip on reality. I pay that kind of rent for a loft like office space on a great block in the Union Square area of Manhattan.
Landlords could lower rents if property taxes weren’t so high. Has anyone on this board ever dealt with Montclair’s well paid government in trying to open a business? Karen Kadus and staff (all well paid) are dedicated to making things difficult–all the rules, even the secret ones, must be followed. Permits for outfitting a space–expensive, time consuming and the attitude is “your emergency is not our emergency.” (They used to have this as a poster in the building permits office.) Let’s get serious, Montclair is not the right place to try and be a “free market” businessmen. Bike lockers anyone?
And apply for a Zoning Permit? I think the zoning officer only knows: NO!
Wow Right of Center you really are a bitter person. I bet your one of those morons sending death threats. Then again you’re probably just some loser who complains on the internet but never does anything. God, I feel sorry for your family and the people around you that have to put up with such a miserable twat.
That being said, I’d like to offer some ideas. I don’t think Bloomfield Ave. needs another high end restaurant (we could use a korean bbq place though). What about a cheese/cured meat shop? Or maybe an art supply store? And while I prefer to shop at mom and pop stores, is the BID try to attract some franchises?
has anyone asked the tenants why they closed up? i remember talking to a friend who had a business on church street, that had been successful and well loved for many years. her landlord, who didn’t even live in new jersey, quadrupled her rent when her lease was up for renewal. she had to close up shop and leave. I hear this story over and over again.
I must say, Montclair’s loss is the rest of Essex County’s gain. As the criminal rents drive restaurants from Montclair into Bloomfield, Nutley, and other neighboring towns, native New Jerseyans can now enjoy dining experiences free of those irritating transplant Montclarions who came to NYC from Nowhere, USA; got outpriced of Park Slope or decided to “settle down” in the burbs; and are passively aggressively hell-bent on contaminating North Jersey with the same PC blandness and pretension that they’ve whitewashed the five boroughs with for the last two decades.
Perhaps when Mayor Fried gets back from his at-no-cost-to-the-taxpayer junket to China, he’ll be bringing with him some new stores he’s convinced investors over there to spring for here. (Although manufacturing and r&d firms, the most likely type of businesses Chinese businessmen would set up, are in fact verboten.)
yah—your the best jerseydevil. couldnt have said it better