News Release
Gloucester City, NJ, May 16, 2008 – Don\’t be surprised if you hear the sound of bagpipes, dance music and revelry resounding from Gloucester City\’s waterfront sometime in the near future. It\’s coming.
The City of Gloucester recently completed a Community Insights revitalization study, begun in mid-2007, with the goal of identifying strategies to renew its older, underutilized retail districts. The determination of the study was that this definitely could be accomplished, and a primary means will be to use fun to do so, recreating the Delaware River waterfront corridor along King and Water streets into a multi-faceted, festive retail and entertainment destination with a predominant Irish Village theme.
Two other retail districts, one with clusters along Broadway between Jersey Avenue and Division street, Powell Street to Hudson Street and Essex Street to Linden Street, would focus on increasing every day, residential retail, such as places to eat, beauty and personal services, health care, groceries and specialty food stores. The other, adjacent to the convergence of Rt. 130 and I-76 leading to the Walt Whitman Bridge, is suitable for additional regional retail catering to commuters and transient traffic, such as furniture stores, home improvement centers or automobile dealerships, and would be enhanced with signage drawing people off the highways to the new waterfront entertainment district.
\”What may be nicest about the Community Insights plan is that it addresses our residents\’ desires for a place to call their own. Gloucester is their home. We are not only focusing on their specific needs, but we are revitalizing and enhancing the true character of the community, taking advantage of our Irish and stevedore heritage which dates back to the late 1600s,\” said William James, the city\’s mayor.
The plan\’s revitalization strategies are now much more than simply conceptual ideas. Gloucester requested RFPs to secure an operator of a restaurant and lounge on the street side of Freedom Pier, which juts out into the Delaware River at the end of Cumberland Street. RFP responses are due May 30, with awarding of the contract shortly thereafter.
The city council recently approved going forward in bidding on a former sail training schooner to relocate to the pier. Plans call for using the 75-foot vessel for public sailing excursions up and down the river, and as a working marine educational exhibit and classroom with programs in maritime woodworking, marine science, engine repair and captain\’s license certification offered to adults and youth. Along with the schooner, a 65-foot, 150-passenger party boat, The Flagship, will be operating from the pier three to four days a week, offering sightseeing excursions and group charters for weddings and events beginning June 1.
The consulting firm hired to conduct the Community Insights program and oversee the revitalization effort, the JGSC Group, of Merchantville, NJ, also is in the process of recruiting businesses that could be viable in all three retail districts. At present, a nationwide company that specializes in Irish pubs and retail has expressed interest in the King Street entertainment district, along with other food, beverage and maritime related businesses.
Sustainable retail categories for the Broadway and Rt. 130 retail districts also have been identified, and collateral marketing these areas is now being distributed to targeted local, regional and national companies. Proposals were received from companies interested in developing the King Street retail corridor. The city recently decided to enter into an agreement naming Sora Holdings of Glassboro as the redeveloper.
\”Gloucester has enormous potential and natural assets. Its large waterfront district along the Delaware is perfect for festival retail, entertainment and leisure recreation businesses which capitalize upon Gloucester\’s ship building tradition and centuries-old Irish ancestry,\” said Mark Lohbauer, a general partner of the JGSC Group, who is overseeing the Community Insights program for Gloucester. \”It\’s a tremendous untapped resource. And having immediate access to Rt. 130, I-76 and the Walt Whitman Bridge with 164,000 cars passing every day, it can become one of the region\’s most popular entertainment venues very quickly.\”
In addition to specific revitalization strategies, the Gloucester plan also has consensus. Business owners, community leaders and residents alike all have endorsed moving forward, with 86% of people surveyed agreeing that renewal of the retail districts is needed and 95% stating that not undertaking a revitalization program would be unacceptable.
\”There is a substantial difference between redeveloping a business district and revitalizing the economy in that district. Redevelopment replaces old buildings with new in the hope of luring new occupants. The problem is that normally there is no real plan for how the new buildings will be used or how to attract occupants that will be successful,\” said Lohbauer. \”A revitalization plan restores viability to a business district, employing strategies such as business recruitment, business retention and destination marketing which energize economic activity. Gloucester\’s attributes have great potential for sustaining business there.\”
Through the Community Insights process, the study identified the optimum business mix for Gloucester\’s three retail districts, combining the wants, needs and perceptions of shoppers, residents and merchants with pertinent economic and social data specific to the city. The program\’s in-depth analysis revealed the essential elements necessary for success in the business districts, including measuring support for the revitalization initiatives and strategies; finding untapped consumer demand for retail goods and services; strengthening existing businesses; determining the most sustainable retail categories for businesses within the study area; developing building-by-building, block-by-block strategies to launch the revitalization; recruiting new businesses and attracting more shoppers and visitors to the business districts.
Such comprehensive analysis pinpoints the untapped market potential in up to 130 retail categories and determines which businesses have the greatest likelihood of being sustainable in each business district, along with creating jobs and providing an ongoing catalyst for economic growth and development.
\”Gloucester\’s challenges are common for older urban areas, but the solutions are unique to Gloucester itself. It became apparent very quickly that the retail potential is vastly underutilized. A full one third of the King Street waterfront area is either vacant or non-retail,\” said Lohbauer. \”When you combine the ambience of the waterfront, the financial benefits available in UEZ areas, the support of an exuberant Irish residential community and three specific business districts supported by a large local, regional and transient consumer base, you have an excellent foundation for successful revitalization.\”
The new revitalization plan complements improvements begun in Gloucester during the past few years which have restored dozens of 19th-century storefronts and houses, installed Victorian-style lampposts and decorative sidewalks and created a new marina, boat ramp and fishing pier. Funding for the Community Insights study was provided by a Smart Future Grant from the NJ Department of Community Affairs.
For information on retail opportunities in Gloucester\’s three business districts, contact Bob Bevan, the mayor\’s special projects coordinator at 856-456-0205 ext. 11; e-mail: [email protected]; Howard Clark, the city\’s Urban Enterprise Zone director at 856-456-6075; e-mail: [email protected]; or the JGSC Group at 856-662-8800; e-mail: [email protected].
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