Hoboken / Manhattan Real Estate Blog

Friday, April 13, 2007
By COTTON DELO
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Though McGinley Square is removed from the more established niches of development and gentrification in Downtown Jersey City, lifelong resident Stephen Cunniff senses his neighborhood is ready to pop.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be the first kid on the block,” said Cunniff, 43, whose second Imago Beauty Group - a high-end salon stocked exclusively with chic Aveda hair care products - will open for business on Monday at 673 Bergen Ave, near Fairview Avenue. A grand opening celebration will be held on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m.

Having opened his flagship salon in Hoboken 10 years ago, Cunniff was contemplating flashy locations like Jersey City’s upcoming Trump Plaza near the waterfront for his second shop.

In September, his friend Billy Santomauro persuaded him to open a salon in The Basilico - a 100-year-old brick building Santomauro had renovated and outfitted with 19 condos and two street-level commercial spaces.

Cunniff was swayed by the prospect of contributing to a renaissance in his own neighborhood - which had experienced the ravages of the local drug trade.

“‘If you want to attract young, cool, hip people to live here, we’ve got to do something big,’” he recalled Santomauro - who also lives a short walk from The Basilico - saying.

Cunniff expects the salon to become a destination for out-of-towners in the mold of its Hoboken forerunner. He’s also purchased the studio apartment above the salon and plans to eventually convert it into a space for massages.

“If you put the name ‘Aveda’ on the door, people will come,” he said.

While Cunniff’s love for the neighborhood reinforced his sense that a business would flourish there, newcomers are also seeing its potential.

Helen O’Brien-Parker, 30, moved to her Basilico condo in December and subsequently convinced her business partner, Kristin Reisinger, that the area would support the coffee shop they’d been scouting locations for Downtown. Pura Vida - a health conscious café serving salads, wraps and smoothies - opened on Tuesday.

Though some advisors warned her against setting up shop in an area that’s experienced little gentrification to date, she believes the neighborhood is poised for an infusion of new people and businesses.

“Downtown was like this when my brother and sister opened up The Merchant five years ago,” she said - referring to her siblings’ wildly successful bar and restaurant on Grove Street. “I guess we’re the pioneers.”