--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> I'd like to thank Annie and Isabelle for the interesting
information. While searching the internet, I was able to find I
obviously wouldn't trust him to balance the municipal budget if he
can't seem to balance his own.
Sorry for the length of this reprint, but see what Koperweis was
able to do in JC. Nice try Mario.
Jersey City's Sales Effort Lands $1B for Downtown
Econ. Dev. Corp. Secures City's Boom Times
Originally appeared in Tri-State Real Estate Journal, May 6, 1999
By Michael Barbella
Northern New Jersey Correspondent Stuart Z. Koperweis doesn't open
the windows to his office much anymore.
Koperweis's eighth-floor office overlooks part of the Jersey City
waterfront, which is bustling with construction activity. The
constant drone of cranes, jackhammers and drills can often be
overpowering.
"Sometimes, I can't open my windows because the sound of
construction is so loud," said Koperweis, president of the Jersey
City Economic Development Corporation.
It has been, loud for quite some time now. New Jersey's second
largest city is experiencing a reconstruction that is turning the
once decaying urban center into a thriving metropolis that rivals
Manhattan. More than $1 billion in private sector investment is
expected to pour into Jersey City over the next two years, as
developers transform vacant rail yards and old warehouses into the
office towers and retail malls of the 2st century.
Development is exploding along the city's waterfront. Construction
has begun on several skyscrapers that will provide the city with
millions of square feet of much-needed office space. There also are
plans to build hotelsm retail centers and condominiums along the
waterfront.
"We've coined the phrase Holistic Urban Building or HUB," Koperweis
said. "We are trying to rebuild the city." The Jersey City Economic
Development Corporation has been instrumental in helping to rebuild
the city. Over the last several years, the 19-year-old agency
successfully has bridged the gap between the public and private,
sectors by becoming a "clearinghouse of information" for companies
considering, relocating, Koperweiss said. It also initiated a savvy
marketing campaign that has, shown the rest of the world what Jersey
City has to offer.
The corporation has grown from a $1.3 million agency in 1994 to an
$11.1 million organization today. During that same time period, the
number of employees has increased by three.
"The [economic development] corpora- tion in the past was not
fulfilling its mission," Koperweis explained. "A lot of people would
call, but they wouldn't know who to go to. Who would get the demo-
graphic information? Who would get out information about the loan
program's? Who was going to help lure companies to the city? There
was no one. We recognized that there was a tremendous need to get
information to people."
There also was a tremendous need- for the city to market itself.
When Koperweis joined the agency in October 1994, he immediately
launched an aggressive advertising and marketing- campaign to tout
the virtues of Jersey City. It was not a difficult task - Koperweis
already had a great product; all he had to do was sell it.
"I classify my background as marketing, economic development and
sales," Koperweis said. "When I first came onboard, I realized we
had a great product here - the city - but we had no tools to market
that product."
That changed within a year. The corporation commissioned an artist
to create a Jersey City "center of the universe" poster similar to
the famous New Yorker sketch. The agency had a copy of the poster
reduced and printed on folders that are now filled with information
and sent to businesses thinking of relocating to the city.
"The [information] packets allow people to become familiar with
Jersey City," Koperweis said. "It helps them get comfortable with
the city and saves them the hassle of having to go through a jumble
of phone calls to get their questions answered. This is a service
organization and the service we are selling is the city.
The agency welcomes businesses into the city by offering to put
together a relocation package tailored to their specific, needs. It
also has a small businesses loan program.
Several years ago, the agency created a blockfront program, which
has enabled the city to refurbish entire blocks and create a more
comfortable atmosphere for those who live and work there.
"We renovate storefronts to bring them back to the way they were in
the 1920s and 1930s," Koperweis explained. "We want to create a more
friendly atmosphere For people to walk around."
Some of that friendly atmosphere can be seen in an 11-minute video
Koperweis produced which features a brief interview with New York
Daily, News publisher Mort Zuckerman. In the video, Zuckerman
discusses his satisfaction with opening a printing plant in Jersey
City's Urban Enterprise Zone in 1996.
"I would say if we are happy here, it would be a flagship for many
other companies in the area to consider locating in Jersey City,"
Zuckerman says in the video.
Besides the video, officials devised a new slogan for the city and
put it on signs. The phrase "America's Golden Door" is written on
the bottom of the sign, below a rendering of the Statue of Liberty.
The city's name is written over the Statue of Liberty, in gold
letters.
Koperweis said the city is still a golden door to opportunity today,
but in a different way. Corporation officials call Jersey City "Wall
Street West" and "Silicon Valley East," as scores of Wall Street
firms move their facilities across the Hudson River and high-tech
communications firms cross the continent to take advantage of the,
area's fiber-optic cable network.
Although the corporation has worked hard to sell the city to outside
investors, Koperweis credits Mayor Bret Schundler - the first
Republican elected in seven decades - with giving the agency a
decent product to sell. "He [Schundler] recognized that he had to
come forward and put the city in a good light," Koperweis said.
"Without a strong, stable political environment, you would not have
the interest you have today in Jersey City," Koperweis said.
Thomas D. Ahern, executive director of the agency, believes the
city's Urban Enterprise Zone program is partly responsible for the
heightened interest. The sales tax collected from zone businesses
has allowed the corporation to renovate blockfronts and fund other
redevelopment projects.
"The money is put into a UEZ assistance fund. That funding source
has assisted this corporation a great deal," Ahern said. "That
[money] has allowed us to do a great deal of marketing."
Nearly 18,800 jobs were created or maintained among the city's Urban
Enterprise Zone-certified businesses between 1993 and 1997.
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