Is downtown ready for a rebound? With new stores set to open, some see positive signs in Matawan BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer FILE PHOTO A C-Town grocery store will soon occupy the former Harris Hardware and Foodtown location on 126 Main St., Matawan. With a fistful of new businesses ready to open within a year, now just may be the perfect time for downtown Matawan's fiscal comeback. A 2.3-square-mile town with a population of about 9,000, Matawan is by no means unique in its struggle to re-establish a struggling downtown. Throughout the Bayshore and up and down New Jersey, Main Street America is suffering. Matawan-Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce President John Cocozza has a wish list of things he believes would help turn around downtown Matawan. More important, he has a concrete list of storefronts poised to open shop on Main Street sometime in the next few months. "What will help the existing businesses?" Cocozza asked himself on Friday. "More foot traffic. How do you increase foot traffic?" More businesses, of course. Cocozza, who works at Edward Jones Financial, was instrumental in convincing his employer to move their office from Freehold to downtown Matawan. But it's not more office space that he's looking for downtown. "It kind of breaks my heart to see it this way, but that's one of the reasons why I'm mayor." - Mary Aufseeser Matawan mayor "A lot of professional offices are opening, but they don't create foot traffic," Cocozza said. "But we all have to eat. We all have to drive to lunch or order in. Instead, just the people who are here can generate the foot traffic." The top item on Cocozza's wish list is a pizzeria. "Highlight it, circle it, underline it in red," Cocozza said. He would also like to see an ice cream parlor and/or a coffee shop, although he realizes these types of businesses are "tough to be self-sustaining." Cocozza may get his wish sooner than he thinks. Just purchased last week, the old Joe Pepp's restaurant, 159 Main St., is slated to become another restaurant, according to the new owner. The same buyer, who wished to remain nameless, also bought the empty lot next door to Joe Pepp's, and has plans to build a two-story building there with retail space on the first floor and offices on the second. Just down the street a few storefronts away, is the almost complete La Riviera restaurant. According to Cocozza and Mayor Mary Aufseeser, La Riviera is marketing itself as a high-end Italian eatery. A sushi restaurant also has plans to open shop on Main Street, Cocozza said. But at the center of it all is the controversial C-Town, the grocery store that will take over the old Harris Hardware location. "C-Town will also be serving hot prepared foods and have a deli counter," Cocozza reported. The question, of course, is when. According to Fred Carr, borough administrator, the grocery store "is pushing toward being open by this summer." "C-Town has some other projects, some other supermarkets they're working on that are closer to being open, obviously at the expense of Matawan," Carr said on Friday. Cocozza works side by side with the mayor, literally, in making his dream a reality. The two work together at Edward Jones. For the mayor, a comeback has been a long time coming. "Thirty years ago, in Red Bank there was nothing. In Freehold, you wouldn't want to get out of the car, and Matawan was booming. It kind of breaks my heart to see it this way, but that's one of the reasons why I'm mayor." Aufseeser looks to Borough Attorney Pasquale Menna for guidance. Menna, the newly elected mayor of Red Bank, has been a councilman for 19 years, back when Red Bank wasn't the shining example of a downtown comeback that it is today. When asked if Matawan would follow Red Bank's and nearby Keyport's example in creating a BID, or a taxable downtown Business Improvement District, Aufseeser said she was still unsure. "I have spoken to the Borough Council," she said. "We've touched on it very lately. Mr. Menna had suggested it to me … . He has a lot of information and he's a great resource for me. I really need some more information. [But] I am interested in it." For Cocozza, the future of Matawan lies in its assets, such as its underutilized lake and the town's proximity to major highways. He, too, looks to Red Bank and Freehold as examples of successful financial turnarounds, but he also realizes that Matawan is different, lacking a major amenity like a courthouse or a hospital. And while Red Bank has attracted many financial firms and Freehold has the county's Hall of Records and other government buildings, important lessons can still be gleaned from the twin success stories. Lake Lefferts, which borders the Buttonwood Manor, is currently difficult to access, except to rent a canoe. Are there any plans to promote usage of the lake? "There was talk about building a boardwalk around the entirety of the lake," Cocozza said. "I don't know anything about the redevelopment of the train station - that's left better to the politicians - but if we were able to ask what we wanted from a developer? To build up the facades downtown, make all the buildings have a nice theme, do the sidewalks over, and a boardwalk around the lake." These are pricey projects the borough would be hard-pressed to afford otherwise, he noted. "The money's never there, but for a developer? Come on," Cocozza said. In the meantime, Matawan made good use of the lake during last summer's first annual SharkFest and Canoe Carnival events, run by the Matawan Alliance, a volunteer civic group. "What all these events have in common is they were all first annual, all things that hadn't been done before," Cocozza said. He added, "It's such a beautiful lake and people don't really know it." As for businesses that already exist but are struggling, Cocozza hopes the prospect of new storefronts will be a welcome relief. "Don't get discouraged," Cocozza said. "Keep the momentum." Perhaps the anchor of Main Street's business district is the award-winning Peter Conte Salon & Spa, 128 Main St. "You would not believe it," Cocozza said of the interior. "He put a tremendous amount of money into the building and the design of the building. It definitely paid off." Another established downtown business is Wrapture, selling customized gift baskets filled with goodies like chocolate and scented candles. Owner Neelam Khanna has been in business for nine years. "It's a great town," Cocozza said. "A great community. It just needs a little help."