The work on M.A.C. Avenue could be constructing the financial futures of some local businesses.
Many privately owned businesses have seen a drop in clientele on the opposite side of the condominiums that are going up.
The condos are part of the City Center Project - a $30 million revitalization to the downtown - which is slated to finish in spring 2002. Construction on M.A.C. Avenue is estimated to be finished late this fall.
Cory Curtis, owner of Cool Creations, 209 M.A.C. Ave., said her own business has slowed down.
“It is definitely down a little, it has taken some effect because when you come along you see half the street closed off,” she said. “But I think it is going to be a good thing for the downtown.
“I think people see it, and think, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to go down that street. ’But I think if we can just get through it, it will be great for us.”
Curtis said the finished product will provide new customers, new businesses and also give people a place to live.
“I think then they will come over and shop because we will be right here,” she said.
Other businesses, like Veritas Wine Shop, 211 M.A.C. Ave., have also seen a drop in customers.
Joel Lichty, owner of the wine shop, said there has been difficulty with customers being able to get in and out of the area.
“It has slowed down, especially after work,” he said. “People from campus and other areas used to come between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., and we are not getting that kind of business like we used to.”
Lichty said he isn’t worried for his shop, though.
“As soon as we get our street back to normal it ought to be a real improvement,” he said. “We are hanging in there until we get there.”
But some businesses are benefiting from the construction.
Two businesses that haven’t seen a drop in customers are the Riviera Cafe Restaurant & Lounge, 231 M.A.C. Ave., and BW-3, 360 Albert Ave.
BW-3 had previously been at 220 M.A.C. Ave., but the restaurant moved to Albert Avenue in early May after its previous building, the University Mall, was demolished a month earlier to make room for the condos.
Toby Wollam, a BW-3 manager, said business has been booming since the change in location.
“Ours has gone up a ton because we have a new restaurant and it is nicer,” he said.
The new location, he said, had only one flaw. A “cave” entrance - a covered walkway - was added because of the chance of someone getting hit with a falling object from construction on the new parking garage, also part of the City Center. The cave kept customers and employees from having to wear hard hats.
“When they are done on M.A.C. is when school is going to start so we will for sure be busy then,” Wollam said.
Scott Marcou, manager of the Riviera Cafe Restaurant & Lounge, said it has just been business as usual.
“It is a college town, and people are going to go out,” he said.
Local businesses, Marcou said, will eventually see more people shopping once the construction is finished.
But the annoyance factor isn’t completely one-sided. Many local residents who frequent the shops say they can’t wait until the construction is over either.
“It causes parking problems, transportation problems,” psychology senior Dai Hughes said.
The construction is undertaking such a large portion of the city, he said, that no one enters that area.
“For the time being for now it is kind of an eyesore,” he said. “But once it is completed it should give the city plenty of business.”
Elementary education senior Nicole Earley said she battles the construction to get to the bars - not the shops.
“I think the construction is kind of hazardous,” Early said.
Carolyn Bennett, the city’s community and economic development administrator, said she thinks the construction has been handled well, but problems were expected.
“Always with something that massive there is disruption,” she said. “I think the disruption has been handled very well by the merchants.”
