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It may sound like free money, but some business owners along University Avenue have found the loan application forms daunting. A business that stays open five years has nothing to repay. City officials would take into account actual, but not projected, losses – how do you prove sales growth that never took place?Ĭity officials say the rail line could draw fresh customers to Biaggio and other destinations along the corridor.įor businesses that remain on the avenue, the zero- interest loans are meant to decline, or be “forgiven,” by 20 percent per year.
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She’s curious whether she’ll qualify for the full amount or just a portion. After spending more than 120 days in the eye of the construction storm, Breed plans to apply for the $20,000 “forgivable” loan recently offered by the city. Others say it’s hard to compare street paving with a four-year, $957 million rail project. Rail proponents have quietly pointed out that roadwork projects on Selby Avenue and other thoroughfares throughout the city also were costly for business owners, most of whom never received a dime in compensation. Paul, the Metropolitan Council and a coalition of foundations dubbed the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative have generated criticism, but not without rebuttal. A $4 million “forgivable loan” grant fund, a parking fund and other outreach and compensation efforts by the city of St. “In projected sales, we probably lost another $3,000…each month,” she said.įor businesses that feel they’re barely surviving, there’s the thorny question of mitigation. She estimates her July sales were down $6,000 compared to the previous year. “Business is still somewhat down from last year at this time,” she said.
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“We’re happy.”ĭespite seeing a sunny future, Biaggio’s Breed remains worried about the now. “We went into this and we thought, we can bring something to the party here, regardless of what was going on with the corridor,” Prestangen said. The coffee shop sells Fair Trade and organic, shade-grown coffee from Africa and Latin America. The Central Corridor offices are just above their ceiling. Rather than flee the train, they’re catering to its construction workers, planners and outreach coordinators. Julie Peck, a grant writer, and Corey Prestangen, a 3M business manager, bucked the common logic and opened the Lucy Coffee Cafe in the Griggs-Midway building at University and Fairview avenues in June. Some businesses, like Porky’s Drive-in and Chocolat Celeste, have already fled the corridor, for reasons that are at least partially attributable to construction. Whether or not the Central Corridor will be a boon or a bust for business depends not only upon whom you ask but also on where they are in the construction schedule, which is simultaneously tackling sections of the University of Minnesota campus, University Avenue, the Capitol complex and downtown St.
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“Foot traffic has probably decreased 35 to 40 percent.” “The drop was visible almost immediately after construction started, and it got worse when it moved to our side of the street,” said Tia Siehndel, manager of Twin Cities Reptile on University Avenue near Raymond. Sharrett’s Liquors, the Edge Coffee House and dozens of other businesses on the north side of University Avenue will have to bear what Biaggio has already faced. But, as work crossed from the south side of University Avenue between Hampden Avenue and Emerald Street to the north side, other businesses were locked in. Three years before it’s scheduled to carry its first passenger down University Avenue to the Raymond Avenue transit station half a block away, construction for the train is revealing some of the promise of what’s to come, despite ongoing skepticism.Ĭonstruction on the line turned a major corner last month, freeing Biaggio from its unsightly chain-link prison. It won’t hurt us,” said Biaggio co-owner Shari Breed. “I don’t know if people will ride the train to lunch. And the stretch of the avenue in front of the Italian-American eatery is smoother than it has been in a decade.Īfter coping with dirt, dust and tepid restaurant sales, Biaggio’s owners are cautiously optimistic they’ll benefit from the installation of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line. Still, the end of July felt like a reopening, thanks to a fresh, brick paver sidewalk and a new streetlight straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. Caffe Biaggio never closed during the five months that a chain-link fence fronted its University Avenue entrance, even when work crews gutted the street beyond its patio.