Sayreville faces obstacles in revitalizing Main Street Many desire to see a larger commercial district downtown BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer Residents who remember a more bustling Main Street in Sayreville are unlikely to see a return to those days anytime soon. JEFF GRANIT staff Edward Pytel, a historian in Sayreville, walks by the Sunny Side Up restaurant, which is the former Liberty Theater site. The venue was a place where patrons could see silent movies. The borough's downtown area around Main Street, like business districts throughout the country, has struggled due to the rise of large shopping malls elsewhere. A lack of funding and the lack of an anchor tenant to draw visitors to the area are among the factors that keep the area from being redeveloped. Historian and lifelong Sayreville resident Edward Pytel said Main Street was never really developed into a thriving business district. And now, the former National Lead site, made up of over 400 acres of waterfront property, is where officials tend to concentrate their efforts. "We're certainly lacking a commercial downtown," Pytel said. "There's no question about that. Maybe the governing officials in town are hoping that the NL [National Lead] site will create that for Sayreville." JEFF GRANIT staff Local Historian Edward Pytel stands in front of the vacant lot where Silver's Furniture store once stood in downtown Sayreville. The developer received approval to build four stores and four apartments on the site, but the owner has since scrapped those plans and put the property up for sale, Pytel said. He added that neighbors are interested in seeing a parking lot developed there. Andrew Lytkowski, president of the Sayreville Historical Society, said that one of the early reasons for the sparse commercial development along Main Street was related to the Sayre & Fisher Brick Co. The company operated a general store at the corner of River Road and Main Street. Pytel said employees of Sayre & Fisher, which was at one time the world's largest brick manufacturer, purchased food and tools at the company's store. The employer would run a tab of the items purchased and deduct from the workers' pay at the end of the season. "That goes back 100 years, to the early 1900s and the 1800s, when Sayre & Fisher actually paid their workers once a year annually at the end of the brick-making season, so the people were forced to buy on the books," he said. "A lot of the homes in the vicinity of the Sayre & Fisher factory were owned by the Fishers, and were part of the benefits … package to the upper echelon," Lytkowski said. "The company stemmed the development of the commercial business area," he added. "… That method of running an operation was declared illegal and a violation of antitrust." Lytkowski said one of the businesses that managed to succeed in the downtown area was the former Greenfield's department store, where North Carolina Furnitureland now stands. He noted that Liberty Theater, now the site of the Sunny Side Up restaurant, once drew visitors to the area in the 1920s and '30s. Resident Barbara Kilcomons recently asked borough officials about the potential for redevelopment along Main Street. Council President Dennis Grobelny said the businesses in downtown Sayreville have always been interspersed with residential properties, making it less of a downtown than the business districts in nearby boroughs like South River. "The biggest problem with downtown is it's really not a downtown," Grobelny said during the Jan. 28 council meeting. "It was never that big." Councilman Stanley Drwal said the redevelopment of Main Street could be approached on a section-by-section basis, as the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) suggested last year. Since commercial development is sporadic along the county road, redeveloping Main Street in sections would help make the area more viable for others seeking to locate their businesses in the area, he added. "I would like to see it before I die," Drwal said. "Towns with smaller Main Streets than Sayreville are able to do it," he noted. SERA Executive Director Randy Corman told Greater Media Newspapers that the agency discussed Main Street redevelopment and revitalization at the request of the governing body. He said SERA sent suggestions to the borough Planning Board on how to go forward if they decide to do so. SERA provided the board with suggested delineations for a redevelopment area along Main Street, including a recommendation that the area between the Sunny Side Up restaurant, near Dane Street, to Buchanan Street be the initial segment. SERA expanded that area to include the vacant lot near Kupsch Street, where Silver's Furniture store once stood. SERA suggested that the borough look into designating the area as a special improvement district, like Woodbridge did with its downtown, instead of designating it as a redevelopment area. "It's really up to the Planning Board, and then the governing body, to determine," Corman said. "There are a couple of ways of approaching this, and a sound planning process will examine the options," he added. While officials and residents would like to see the area revitalized, Planning Board Chairman Dr. John Misiewicz said that the process of redevelopment is in its "very early stages." He cited New Brunswick as a neighboring municipality that was able to take redevelopment beyond the planning stage. "The New Brunswick redevelopment agency went to the residents and the businesses and helped them, and by eminent domain or whatever else, they paid them the current market value," Misiewicz said. "Then they paid the cost for them to move and find another place." Misiewicz noted that several properties on Main Street that were zoned for business are now residential properties. The process of zoning those properties for commercial use again is difficult, he said. Funding redevelopment Grobelny, who is a SERA commissioner, also said at the Jan. 28 meeting that as the new redeveloper of the NL site closes on that property, SERA is discussing the possibility of that company contributing toward the redevelopment of Main Street. Kilcomons advised the council against waiting for that developer, King of Prussia, Pa.-based O'Neill Properties, to contribute to the effort before moving forward with the revitalization of Main Street, as the process of redeveloping National Lead will be a long one. "It could be 10 or 20 years down the road," Kilcomons said. Grobelny said that while O'Neill will have to commit a significant amount of money for the NL site in the near future, the company would need to make some of its money back. Councilman David Kaiserman said that since O'Neill is profiting from the re- development of the NL site, the company could sponsor the revitalization of downtown as a "show of faith." Grobelny responded to that comment, saying that O'Neill is not being given a free ride. It is unlikely that the borough would be awarded grants for the endeavor at this time, especially as Gov. Jon Corzine talks of raising toll prices to pay off the state's debt, Grobelny said. Corman said that state grants are currently very competitive. "There are grants available from time to time, but there's very fierce competition for them," Corman said. Officials need to decide what they want done before seeking money for additional parking, lighting or anything else that is desired for the Main Street corridor, he said. He said this was the first he heard of the idea of seeking contributions from O'Neill. "Nobody asked about it," Corman said. "No one suggested that up until now." Working with businesses Kilcomons said that while some property owners maintain their properties in a satisfactory manner, there seems to be no plan to bring uniformity to the properties and beautify the Main Street area. Grobelny agreed that nonconforming properties have made the area less appealing for potential buyers to locate on Main Street. He said he consulted with the construction office and was told that there is no ordinance that calls for businesses in the borough's downtown section to conform in appearance. Borough Business Administrator Jeffry Bertrand said that unlike Pennsylvania, where design criteria can be set out for certain areas, New Jersey municipali- ties cannot designate design standards for businesses unless the town provides financial assistance to those businesses. The borough can mandate certain design criteria in the case of a redevelopment area, Bertrand said. However, areas that are not designated as being in need of redevelopment are more difficult for municipalities to coordinate. Borough Attorney Brian Hak noted that the borough could set criteria for areas designated as historic districts. Pytel said that he would like to see properties in the area between borough hall and the intersection of Main Street and MacArthur Avenue preserved; however, those are residential. He noted that he can remember when there was a grocery store at every corner of the downtown area decades ago. "It's changed a lot," he said.