The Jerome Gun Hill Improvement District (JGHBID) recently led several prospective shop tenants across its commercial district, showcasing at least a dozen store vacancies while outlining needed services currently unavailable at the BID.

The commercial vacancy tour is the first for JGHBID. Shopkeepers first met at the Keeper’s House, the BID’s headquarters, with BID Executive Director, Jennifer Tausig, and Ariana Cipriani, the BID’s community liaison.

Prospective business tenants surveyed locations like a former T-Mobile store with intrigue, evaluating the neighborhood, foot traffic, and empty storefronts.

“My business has been operating for over two years already. Right now, I’m just a single, one-person business trying to expand,” said Aniusha Ortiz, who is enthusiastic about opening up a brick and mortar for her hair renewal and body waxing business, Brazis by Nush.

“I grew up in the neighborhood and I would actually like to give back and contribute to make it more feasible for people to stay in the neighborhood to get their needs met instead of having to go to the inner city to get exceptional service. It’s not something we’ve had the luxury of getting in the Bronx at the moment,” said Ortiz, who grew up on East Gun Hill Road and Decatur Avenue, attending MS 80 and DeWitt Clinton High School. She currently lives near Lehman College.

Joann Richards considered the tour interesting and pointed to Norwood’s diversity. “[There are] a lot of restaurants but not a lot of vegetarian restaurants within the borough,” said Richards, who’s interested in opening a vegetarian restaurant she plans to call “The Boss.”

A retail market analysis by an independent analyst group and community needs assessment report compiled by the BID was distributed to prospective merchants. The information is loaded with relevant data that includes demographics and the kinds of businesses current residents want at the BID.

Cipriani deemed the tour successful. “We directly show prospective merchants what the needs are in this community. Accessing that data is a huge benefit to people who want to open up a business here,” she said.

Cipriani also notes that a couple of those on the tour have followed up with the BID. “We have two women who are setting up meetings with the Bronx Business Solutions Center.”

Tausig was also pleased with the results. “I feel like we were able to spread the word about a couple different vacancies. We brought the horses to the water and hopefully, they can figure out how to drink.”

Tausig hopes for more involvement from property owners in the future, and is considering another tour. “It’d be great if we could get more property owners to be open to showing their spaces,” she said.

Editor’s Note: The Jerome Gun Hill Improvement District is managed by the Mosholu Preservation Corporation, which publishes the Norwood News.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.