High number of construction projects a drag for some Lansing area businesses

Bryce Airgood, Lansing State Journal
·5 min read

Siraj Bakery & Grill in Lansing used to be open eight hours a day, but that was before construction almost completely shut down South Waverly Road.

Now owner Khalid Eshkuntana might have it open two or three hours before shutting it down due to a lack of customers. When he is closed he drives for Uber.

He can’t wait at the restaurant all day with no customers when he has bills to pay, like an electric bill in excess of $1,000 for the business and a kid in college.

“I need like some help,” he said.

It was a rampant construction season for Greater Lansing this past year, with significant projects in Lansing, on local highways and the major Grand River Avenue project coupled with the Okemos Road bridge construction in Meridian Township.

As of Thursday, more than 70 roads in Lansing were listed under 2022 construction projects, including West Malcolm X Street, South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and South Washington Avenue, according to the city’s construction map on its website.

Public Service Director Andy Kilpatrick said there was more construction on more major streets this year than normal and two of the projects, on Waverly Road and Pennsylvania Avenue, will not be completed this year.

"They got started much later because of costs and contracting issues," he said. "So they will extend into next year, which is really not typical for our kind of road-only projects but they actually did have some sewer work and watermain also within that, that makes them extend much longer than just a standard road project.”

Lansing City Council Member Adam Hussain said last month that after years of neglect to southwest Lansing infrastructure he’s thrilled to see road construction projects in the community. Infrastructure quality has an immense impact on property values, quality of life and the ability to retain residents and businesses, he said in an email.

However, residents and businesses can be negatively impacted in the short-term by the construction, he added.

“As it pertains to businesses, if road construction projects aren’t done efficiently, signage not placed correctly, and, among other considerations, traffic advisories not rolled out in advance and throughout the duration of the project, the impact on businesses can be fatal to their operations,” he said.

Like the businesses on South Waverly Road, including Eshkuntana’s and the Crazy Crab restaurant. Earlier this year Hussain pleaded to community members to support the businesses. He said the businesses are staples of the business community but many of them were struggling to stay afloat with the construction and other business challenges.

“As a matter of fact, we were hearing that some of these businesses were experiencing consecutive days where they were down about 50% in sales,” he said.

Eshkuntana said he has owned Siraj Bakery & Grill since 2018 and it’s been a rough five years between the COVID-19 pandemic and then the construction the past couple months.

He said he likes his job and customers like his food, but when they want a meal they often don’t have an extra 20 to 30 minutes just to wait for construction to get to his plaza. If someone’s coming from East Lansing or Okemos it can be a 35- to 40-minute journey.

“I try,” he said. “I try to help you but I can’t ‘cause when the customer come, I make money, but no customers, no money.”

Further east, Okemos businesses have also been impacted by the $14.7 million project to resurface and improve drainage along 3.25 miles of Grand River Avenue.

Meridian Township officials have implemented ways to help businesses negatively impacted by this large project, such as a “Mob the Roadblock” event to specifically patronize the businesses and a "Bonus Bucks" program gifting businesses $50 gift cards to give to customers to encourage residents to shop at those businesses.

One of the participating "Bonus Bucks" businesses is Okemos Soldan's Pet Supplies. Manager Meg Bashore said the Grand River Avenue business saw changes in customer numbers about a month into the construction, especially when construction took over the Okemos Road intersection as well.

Before the construction the business would get about 200 customers on Saturday, its busiest day. Now the store gets closer to 130 to 150 people a Saturday, a loss of at least 200 customers a month.

“And so, while it seems small maybe day by day, when you look at it big picture, it's bigger and it's a little scarier,” she said last month.

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She said the business tries to notify customers, who describe construction as a "complete inconvenience" and "a mess out there," that it’s still open during construction and staff will deliver to customers so they don’t have to deal with the construction.

She said depending how bad traffic is, it can turn a five- or 10-minute trip into a 30-minute one. It’s added to her and other employees’ commutes and changed how often they go out for lunch. They’ve all had to change their habits so their lives aren’t as chaotic as outside their doors is, she said.

And the Grand River Avenue project is continuing into next year, so Bashore and her staff are preparing for how to deal with it moving forward.

“I don't think people understand that construction like this, especially long-term construction, can have a very big and a very long-term effect on small businesses specifically,” she said.

Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or bairgood@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing area businesses on Waverly, Grand River take road construction hit