Downtown Fredericton business hurt by construction season

Some business owners in Fredericton's downtown are upset over how this summer's heavy construction season has hurt their businesses.

Mike Babineau, the co-owner of Cora's Restaurant on Queen Street, said his restaurant was affected last weekend when part of the downtown street was shut down to fix its intersection with Carleton Street.

Babineau said many of his customers are older and would be unable to visit his restaurant if they had to walk through construction.

The restaurant owner said he understands the repairs have to be done, but his problem is with the lack of communication from the city.

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"I just found out [Thursday,] less than 48 hours prior to the weekend, where we do the majority of our volume of business on the weekends here, that the intersection at Carleton and Queen is going to be closed," said Babineau.

Greg McCann, a project engineer with the City of Fredericton, said that when a construction project like this is undertaken, letters are sent to affected businesses and homes. There are also notices put up on social media and radio.

"We do what we can to make sure there's as little disruption to businesses as possible," McCann said.

"In the case of Carleton Street, it was decided that closing the intersection on a weekend would be the least disruptive."

Babineau did receive a letter, but it came quite late and only after a complaint had been given to the city.

"I think they really dropped the ball on this, the fact that I got the letter after I made the complaint," said Babineau.

Hotel construction causes problems

It's not just road construction that's affected downtown businesses.

John Welling, the owner of Botinicals, a gift shop on Queen Street, said the construction of the new hotel downtown has taken away some on street parking spots, which has reduced his revenue.

"At this point, I'm down about 30 per cent," said Welling.

The situation has started to improve, however.

He said that the new parking lot next to Isaac's Way and signs that direct customers to the convention centre parking lot have improved his situation.

In the end he said that it's up to locals to come out, and support local businesses.

"We just need people to come out and support us. We're still here, we're still open. Make the little bit of extra effort," said Welling