CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Plaza Midwood business owner is breathing a sigh of relief as construction that blocked his store for months finally wraps up.
The owner of Sip City in Plaza Midwood has complained several times that Duke Energy’s work on power lines is impacting his business. WCNC Charlotte first shared Yaz Humaideh's story in June when the project was continuously delayed.
The project is ending, and Humaideh is thankful his business survived. Now he is calling on Duke Energy to help small businesses impacted by any future projects.
Humaideh said bucket trucks and crews blocked the front of his business on and off for nine months. Duke Energy crews have been putting power lines underground in front of Sip City and along Central Avenue since November 2023. Humaideh said the work stopped customers from coming into his store.
"It wasn't convenient for them anymore to stop in in the mornings, grab their coffee," he said. "The street is blocked, it's traffic. They started taking different routes to go to work."
The project was supposed to end in February 2024. However, work is now set to wrap up by the end of September. Duke Energy said the delays were due to unexpected roadblocks underground.
Humaideh said he saw a massive boost in sales when crews were no longer in front of his business for a month or so during the summer. However, last week, he was surprised to see several trucks back on Central Avenue, blocking his store again.
Humaideh took his frustrations to Instagram, posting a video showing the workers and asking, "do you not see how disruptive that is?"
Logan Stewart, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, said the project is imperative.
"Cars hitting poles has become the third leading cause of outages," she said. "We removed the majority of the poles in that area."
Stewart said this type of work is a growing need in Charlotte as more of these crashes cause power outages.
"In Charlotte alone, 10 [cars crash into poles] at least a week that we see, if not more," she added.
Stewart also pointed out that similar projects to the Plaza Midwood one are in the pipeline for the Charlotte area, and that the utility makes outreach to businesses whenever work is set up.
"We have community teams that work with these businesses to let them know how that will impact them," she said.
While work wraps up in Plaza Midwood, Humaideh hopes Duke Energy will help other small businesses keep their doors open during the next project.
"Not everyone's gonna be able to make it out of something like this, especially when there's miscalculations from two to three months to 10 months," Humaideh said.
Duke Energy's work appears to be done in front of Sip City, and the entire Plaza Midwood project is expected to be finished by the end of September.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.