Though students have complained about navigating the crushed sidewalks and gaping holes that have taken over Commonwealth Avenue in recent months as part of the Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project, small business owners in the area — some even threatening to file lawsuits for lost business — also say they have reason to grumble.
Several Commonwealth Avenue businesses located between Cummington and St. Mary’s streets have experienced sales losses as a result of the construction, according to their owners, who complain customers assume the businesses are not open because of the construction workers, gravel and heavy machinery just outside their doors.
“In an environment like that, people try to avoid [the area],” said Kwet Teong, the owner of Spice King/Lollicup, an Indonesian café. Construction blocked off the entrance to his restaurant entirely for a few days, he said, as he watched the only customer in his store sip a bubble tea in the corner.
Teong, who said his business is down more than 50 percent this month, said he was resigned to the fact that he has little influence over project construction.
“I am just a little guy,” he said.
Nick Sabokrooh, owner of Boston City Flowers, said he and other business owners on the block unsuccessfully tried to appeal for assistance during the construction. They petitioned Boston University and spoke to city officials, including Mayor Thomas Menino.
“We call Mayor Menino, and all he does is apologize,” Sabokrooh said in his empty shop yesterday. “That’s not going to put money in our pockets.”
Sabokrooh said he has put extra balloons, flowers and plants on the sidewalk outside his shop to indicate the store is still open. Art Bijoux owner Luccia Bellari recently cut prices on her entire inventory by 50 percent and also started blasting music from a boom box in front of her store to attract customers.
Bellari said sidewalk construction has scared away most of her customers and said, at one point, workers had even put a portable restroom in front of her boutique.
“Very elegant,” she said. “If it keeps going like this, I’m going to sue them.”
Not all business along Commonwealth Avenue has been suffering, though. Employees at Thai restaurant Nud Pob and at the Dug Out Bar and Grill said business has remained strong in spite of the construction.
“We don’t have that much business during the day,” said Hunter Greeley, a bartender at the Dug Out. “At night [when construction stops], it’s still been busy, so I don’t feel like it’s affected us that much.”
Business owners and their employees said they are most frustrated by the fact that the state failed to inform them ahead of time about the construction.
“They didn’t give us any notice, there was no memo sent out — nothing,” Sabokrooh said. “One day, they’re here, and they’re digging without any courtesy to us at all.”
Massachusetts Highway Department spokesman John Carlisle said public hearings are held for all construction projects to inform businesses and residents of the potential impact.
“We don’t go door-to-door,” he said.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said the university — which rents most of the storefronts to the businesses — communicates with its tenants, but he was not sure to what extent the university included them in the pre-construction process.
Business owners do not sit on the Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project Task Force, which is comprised of university students, administrators and faculty who meet monthly to discuss construction-related issues.
Riley said although BU did not initiate the project, he called it a welcome and long-awaited improvement.
“People want the construction to be done yesterday, but it’s going to take another two years,” he said, adding that people should be willing to make accommodations for what will ultimately be a visible upgrade in the safety and aesthetics of the campus when work is completed in 2008.
“It’s just the nature of living in a city that has a lot of construction,” Riley said.