The projected end date was two months ago, but the shaky wooden
planks in front of stores and plastic orange cones dotting San
Benito Street are still inconveniencing shoppers and business
owners alike as the city rips up and replaces sidewalks to beautify
downtown.
Hollister – The projected end date was two months ago, but the shaky wooden planks in front of stores and plastic orange cones dotting San Benito Street are still inconveniencing shoppers and business owners alike as the city rips up and replaces sidewalks to beautify downtown.
“It’s destroyed us,” said Charisse Tyson, owner of Johnny’s Bar and Grill. “People just give up. Business is way down. I mean really, really down.”
Construction crews with McGuire and Hester occupied sidewalk space in front of Johnny’s for about two and a half weeks, and while they’ve moved on down San Benito Street and away from Tyson’s front door, business is still slow, she said.
Tyson said she didn’t expect the construction to be as bad as it is, and is skeptical the hassle will yield much overall improvement in the long run.
“They should have spent the money on promoting Hollister,” she said. “To me it’s just not worth it.”
The project, which started in March, should be completed by the end of the month, said Redevelopment Agency Director Bill Avera.
While portions of sidewalks are completely torn up, construction trucks lumber up and down the street all day and parking is severely limited, project managers say the end result will be a cleaner, more appealing downtown that will hopefully bring more business.
Avera originally thought construction could be finished before the 4th of July weekend, but then forecasted a completion date of mid-August after crews had to come back after the Independence Rally to finish the work.
Avera said crews got behind with the heavy workload and weren’t able to finish before the rally like they thought they would.
The company’s contract period is through September, and crews should finish work on San Benito Street within the next couple weeks, Avera said. All that’s left after that are the alleys that branch off San Benito Street and putting in the trees, benches, bike racks and lamp posts, he said.
“From my perspective, I thought it would be worse than it is,” he said. “Anytime you’re doing that much work affecting that many people, you expect some things.”
The project is being financed from the recently-enhanced RDA Fund, which received a $35 million bond issuance and will have no effect on the city’s general fund. McGuire and Hester beat the competition with a $3.4 million bid.
Avera said some business owners have complained about the project, but on the whole it’s been fairly quiet.
Of the more than 200 downtown businesses, Avera estimated 20 have called to complain.
“We take those kinds of complaints with a grain of salt,” Avera said. “Once it’s done it’s done and we won’t be back. It’s something you’ve gotta live with.”
Tyson questioned why the construction crews didn’t work at night so they didn’t disturb business to the degree they have.
“I’m not real happy with the way they’re handling it,” she said. “We’ll see if when it’s all done if business picks back up. From the complaints I’ve been hearing from customers, it could have been done better.”
Avera said having crews work at night wasn’t an option because the RDA couldn’t afford the added cost.
“When you go outside the normal working hours, the hourly rates of employees go way up,” he said. “The labor costs for the project would be greatly increased.”
Drapoel owner Deborah Wood said that while she’s dreading the weeks when construction crews will be jack-hammering on her doorstep, she’s willing to put up with the noise and dust because it will pay off in the long run.
She said she thinks the project will bring more business when it’s finished because the sidewalks and overall ambiance of downtown will be nicer.
“When it happens to my front I’ll just have to deal with it,” Wood said. “I think they’re doing the best job they can for what they have to do. Construction is construction.”
Wood suggested the city or the Hollister Downtown Association or both, get all the downtown businesses together and have a promotional day to celebrate the new and improved downtown when it’s completely finished.
“It would be nice to come up with something to get people down here when it’s done,” she said. “And to compensate the businesses that lost business during the construction. It’s been hard for other business owners.”
Megan Guerra, owner of Main Street Bistro, has been lucky in that the sidewalk in front of her restaurant was revamped two years ago when the building was built, and she hasn’t had to deal with construction directly in front of her entrance, she said.
The construction hasn’t had much effect on her business, but she sympathizes with other business owners who haven’t been as lucky, she said.
“I keep looking down the street, and for it to affect business for two weeks like it has, it would have killed us,” Guerra said. “Two weeks is a long time to have customers away – you only have one month to pay rent.”
