CONCORD, N.C. — Businesses in downtown Concord are feeling the weight of an ongoing construction project to renovate the downtown area.
When complete, the downtown streetscape will include 22-foot-wide sidewalks, space allotted for outdoor dining cafes and public art, decorative lighting and more.
However, the work is taking much longer than expected and coming at a cost to some businesses.
Businesses told WCNC Charlotte's Jesse Pierre they are struggling to hang on and all of the construction has been slow-moving. They said although they are looking forward to seeing the final results, they just hope they are still here to be able to enjoy it.
“If it stretches on much longer, I don’t know if we can survive … if it stays like this" 2 Gals Kitchen owner Mary Niemeier said.
The restaurant has been on Union Street for about 10 years.
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Niemeier said they did the work from the ground up and the restaurant is their way to give back to the community and provide great food, service and atmosphere. She described it as “a place where people could get away and feel better when they left than what they felt walking in.”
Niemeier said they made it through COVID and were back thriving.
“We opened that door, and we had tables full through the end of the day. We were packed,” she said.
Then construction began, right outside of their doors. Since then, the owners have seen more empty tables.
“Compared to two years ago, we are down revenue-wise between 50-60%,” she said. “Anyone who knows anything about restaurants knows that is a restaurant killer.”
With fewer customers, the restaurant had to cut back on its open hours. Niemeier said they used to be open until 3 p.m. and dinner on Thursday and Friday evenings but the cost of being open outweighed the money coming in. They are catering as much as possible, but it’s not enough.
“Yesterday, I was like 'I don’t know how I’m going to make payroll on Friday.' I was stressed,” Niemeier said. “I didn’t pay all of my rent and thankfully the landlord has been kind and was like pay what you can when you can because he knows what is going on down here and he already lost a tenant this month.”
She said the initial expected July completion date appears to be a moving target. “The last I heard was September but if I look out there, that is a question mark too."
At this critical time, every customer matters.
“Obviously it’s hard to access them and they are all trying really hard,” Susanna Jarrett, a Concord resident said. “I think this is going to be an amazing spot once it’s done but I just hope they can finish it fast enough so we don’t lose the amazing businesses we have now.”
Niemeier asks customers not to give up on them. There are parking decks free of cost right around the corner from her restaurant and other businesses.
“All of the businesses need the customers to keep coming here, even if it is frustrating, even if it is an inconvenience. We need their support,” Niemeier said. “We’re small businesses. We are not rich people and everything we have are in these businesses. They are our livelihood.”
The city of Concord said a lot of progress has been made but the completion date has been extended. A spokesperson said public updates and direct communication to merchants were made back in April that the substantial completion was Sept. 14.
“With any update, we always explain that this does not include rain delays and additional extension requests can come up," the city's spokesperson said. "Since then, the merchants have been further updated as additional time was granted due to unforeseen issues. The current substantial completion date is September 26.”
A spokesperson said updates to the project are given during their city council meetings.
Meanwhile, businesses are left barely hanging on.
Contact Jesse Pierre at jpierrepet@wcnc.com or follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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