News
RiverCenter Reflects On Year In Red Bank
By Ryan Fennell
RED BANK - RiverCenter held its annual board meeting on Monday night at Ashes on Broad Street in Red Bank.
Ashes provided complimentary food and drink for the private gathering of Red Bank's business owners and RiverCenter representatives.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform business owners and board members of the various events and initiatives undertaken by RiverCenter over the course of the past year and the continuing efforts by the organization to make 2010 a successful year for downtown Red Bank.
RiverCenter's primary focus has been to promote Red Bank's downtown area as a whole and as a destination for visitors while also making the downtown more attractive for new businesses.
According to RiverCenter's report to the board 16 businesses opened in Red Bank's downtown in 2009 to date, only one of which has since closed. Two more businesses are slated to open in early 2010.
"(RiverCenter) has done extensive, extensive work to go out and do recruitment of new businesses to bring more great retail to an already great downtown Red Bank," RiverCenter Chairperson Tom Fishkin said. "Some leads have come to fruition, some leads we're still working on and there's a strong, strong feeling that 2010 will bring great new stores to Red Bank with a few already slated to open in January."
RiverCenter recently launched the "Only One Red Bank" campaign as a means to promote the town as a primary destination.
"Our biggest effort has gone toward marketing the town as a whole," said Fishkin. "We're really trying to create a big push for the downtown as a whole as a destination."
According to RiverCenter's Executive Director Nancy Adams the organization has produced a brochure with for the "Only One Red Bank" campaign and has placed them throughout the state at rest stops along the New Jersey Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike as well as train stations and other heavily utilized public places. According to Adams the brochure contains generic information, which provides for a long shelf life of the brochure.
RiverCenter also ran two months worth of "Only One Red Bank" posters at over 30 New Jersey Transit station platforms in April and September thanks to a grant received by RiverCenter from the state Division of Tourism. RiverCenter is hoping that more grants become available in the near future in order to continue the campaign.
"We're trying to get the word out about Red Bank and keep Red Bank in people's minds," Adams said.
"Our organization historically had various goals," Fishkin said. "A lot of it was in the form of bricks and mortar; façade improvements, sidewalks, and things like that. Although that still has importance in any downtown community, we really feel at this point in time with the economy the way that it is, it's equally important (to promote) because the competition of our neighbors has elevated so much, we're going to battle that a little in our own way by branding our town."
"We want to stay in the front of the Rolodex, not in the back," Fishkin added.
The gathering on Monday night also provided RiverCenter the opportunity to distribute several awards to the various businesses in the community.
The organization's Ambassador Award was presented to Kevin Barry, project manager of the Molly Pitcher Inn. A second Ambassador Award was awarded posthumously to Kevork Hovnanian, founder of the construction firm K. Hovnanian, who recently passed away at the age of 86. Barry, Hovnanian's grandson, accepted the award on his grandfather's behalf.
"Our greatest amenity would be the town of Red Bank," Barry said in reference to what the Molly Pitcher has to offer its guests. "Everything that Red Bank has is so great for us to be able to send people right down the street. So, thank you for that."
The Community Partners Award was presented to The Atrium at Navesink Harbor. Representatives from The Atrium were not in attendance to accept the award.
Jamian Laviola, owner of Jamian's Food and Drink on Monmouth Street, was presented with the Visual Improvement Award for renovations made to his establishment with the help of architect Mike Simpson. Simpson is the former executive director of RiverCenter.
Kris Lukowitz of Patriot Construction was also presented with a Visual Improvement Award for the work his company did to renovate 2-10 Broad Street, home to one of the newest editions to Red Bank's downtown, Urban Outfitters.
"It was an honor to work on the project and on the building," Lukowitz said. "It's an ongoing project so we're not done yet."
Lukowitz said that while the street-level floor was readied for the opening of Urban Outfitters, several of the floors above still need additional renovations.
"The town of Red Bank was remarkable in assisting us with our 'extreme makeover' schedule and we look forward to finishing the rest of it."
