Landlords tend to get a bad rap. Ask a tenant sometime…then brace yourself for an earful.
But Jack McDonald might change that.
Jack owns a vacant car dealership that may become the Morristown EcoCenter, a bold project that would combine an incubator for green startups, an organic restaurant, a commercial kitchen and a public performance space under one roof–with gardens above it.
The EcoCenter is envisioned as a hybrid operation: Jack would lease the property as a for-profit venture to nonprofit entrepreneurs and private investors. The 20,000-square-foot facility would remain on the town tax rolls.
Proponents hope the EcoCenter can become a downtown arts hub and a launching pad for environmentally and socially themed businesses.
The idea is so ground-breaking that even the sustainability minded Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation couldn’t quite come up with a mechanism to fund it, according to Jonathan Cloud, chairman of the Sustainable Business Incubator at the heart of the proposal.
That does not worry Jack, a 1972 graduate of Morristown High School who believes the EcoCenter is a concept whose time is now.
“It’s good for the town. I expect it to be something that has life in it, whether it’s at lunchtime or on weekends, a place where you can get a running start on something. If these things can happen, and it could be economically viable, wouldn’t that be a useful thing?”
Jack’s father had a Pontiac/GMC Truck dealership at 55 Bank St. starting in the late 1960s. Jack eventually joined the family business and helped operate it.
He also is a principal in McDonald Auto Body, a third-generation collision repair business that relocated from Market Street to Dumont Place in 1980.
Around 2000, the family leased the Bank Street property to a BMW dealership. Later, the site became home to a Mini Cooper showroom. That business moved across town about 18 months ago.
Jack, 57, said he has had some inquiries from prospective buyers, but nothing clicked until town officials introduced him to Jonathan Cloud’s team about three months ago.
A senior fellow at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Jonathan helped establish the Sustainable Business Incubator at FDU to assist environmental entrepreneurs.
“I’m looking to put someone in there who could survive, benefit and complement Morristown,” said Jack, who became an avid cyclist while studying and working in Florida after high school.”It’s not about how much money you can wring out of it. It doesn’t have to be 110 percent (profit) if everyone in the process is a win/win/win.”
Bill Braunschweiger, whose family business, Braunschweiger Jewelers, has been in Morristown since 1958, has known Jack for a long time.
“Jack has been an integral member of the Morristown business community for many years and has always worked towards making downtown a better place for business to prosper,” said Bill, a member of the Morristown Partnership. “He would work tirelessly to make the EcoCenter a success.”
Traditionally, Morristown has not been great at nurturing ideas, Jack contends. He hardly can contain his excitement about this one.
“How can you not like the concept of raising local produce, and having an industry that is pleasing, and a farm on your rooftop?” he asked from his sun-drenched office overlooking Maple Avenue.
Moments later Jack was scampering across the roof at 55 Bank St., touting its possibilities. He likes hang-gliding and got over a fear of heights by learning to focus dead-ahead. Success, he said, is about studying a situation, believing in your decision, and having the faith to risk defeat in its pursuit.
The EcoCenter has many hurdles to clear. Neighbors, including residents of a seniors center, must be wooed. Town approvals are required. And the partners must raise around $2.5 million in a stingy economic climate.
Still, the EcoCenter would be hard pressed to find a better pitchman than landlord Jack McDonald, who did TV ads years ago for McDonald Pontiac/GMC Truck.
“There really isn’t any question this will be funded,” Jack said of the EcoCenter, “because the things they are committed to bring wealth and depth to a community. I think those things can’t lose. Will it be sustainable? I don’t see how it couldn’t be. It’s too good for the community.”
MEET AND GREET: You can meet the partners of the proposed EcoCenter at 55 Bank St. between 1 pm and 4 pm on Saturday, March 19.
Good concept, good people and good for Morristown.