December 4, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Avenue construction project wraps up in time for holidays
by Jennifer Katz

Germantown Avenue reopened the week before Thanksgiving to a general sigh of relief from the business owners along the construction corridor and a few lingering doubts about the future.

An official celebration is planned for this weekend with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday at 10 a.m. and a block party on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. with music, food and fanfare.

After enduring a year of construction, residents and business owners are pleased with the results of PennDOT’s $17.4 million project to repair underground utility lines and resurface the Avenue.

“We are very, very happy that its done,” said Laura Siena, executive director of West Mt. Airy Neighbors. “The project turned out beautifully.”

Few disagree that the newly paved Avenue with restored trolley tracks, Belgian block, street lights and new plantings is a vast improvement to the Avenue.

“We really wanted to make this section of the Avenue look like other sections further up,” said PennDOT spokesperson Eugene Blaum.

Still, many business owners, who spent two years negotiating with the transportation authority over minimizing the impact on businesses, are still fighting to stay afloat and to bring back customers they say were lost during construction.

Many business owners along the Avenue, already hurt by the economic downturn, are anxiously awaiting the return of their full customer base.

“We are missing 50 to 70 customers per day,” said Donna Fitzgerald Robb, owner of the Cresheim Cottage Café. “Our customers have yet to come back.”

The restaurant is up for sale just shy of its fifth anniversary in January.

“I doubt we’ll make it to our anniversary,” Robb said.

Other businesses have started to see signs of the tide turning.

“I’m thrilled that its open,” said Sherman Oberson, owner of the Jean-Jacques Gallery. “I could see a huge loss in business.”

Oberson said in the few weeks since the Avenue was open to through traffic (since about Nov. 4), many of his Chestnut Hill customers, whom he hadn’t seen in almost a year, have come in.

“They said they could finally get through,” he said.

But will it be enough to make up for all the lost revenue? Many retailers make their profit for the entire year during the holidays.

“I’m beginning to see Christmas sales but, still, if I compare my numbers from this time last year I’m off quite a bit,” he said.

At Brewer’s Outlet the story is similar. Owner Paul Egonopoulos said business is up but it is hard to know if it’s enough.

“I’ve seen an increase in business, but this is our busy time,” he said. “A lot more customers have been talking about the reopening, and I’m seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time.”

But Egonopoulos is elated that the project is over.

“Hell yeah I’m glad its over,” he said. “I hope to never see another PennDOT project again. We made it, but it was financially a painful pill.”

The outlet, however, managed to retain all of its staff while cutting back everywhere else.

Egonopoulos also hopes the timing ultimately will help business rebound.

“Its good that it’s the holidays,” he said.

Business owners are also anxiously awaiting the remainder of a sum of promised money that was supposed to help offset some of the losses. Earlier in the year, the group Save the Avenue procured a total of $110,000 from city and state officials. The funds were to be used for marketing efforts.

To date, only $40,000 has been distributed and most of it was used for a door hanger campaign aimed at residents and potential shoppers. With the bulk of the money outstanding, some of the business owners have expressed their concerns that it was too little too late.

“They gathered all that money to advertise, yet I did not see one advertisement,” Robb said.

She was frustrated at the decisions to use the money for direct marketing and did not see the benefit to the door hanger program. Robb, whose business was at ground zero for months of the construction, lost the sidewalk outside her restaurant, handicapped access and parking. She said she had been told she was the big “winner” of the door hanger campaign, yet she only had two customers bring them in.

Ken Weinstein, owner of the Trolley Car Diner and one of the founding members of the Save the Avenue coalition, said he understood the frustration.

“I share their frustration,” he said. “I thought 100 percent of the money would be in by now.”

Weinstein said the amount ended up closer to $90,000 in promised funding and that $50,000 is still outstanding. He defended the decision to take the campaign directly to the residents.

“The marketing has been aimed at potential customers,” he said. “Our message is to shop local, think about the community, and the best way to get that message out is to put it at every doorstep.”

Weinstein agreed that the Avenue looks wonderful and the improvements will be seen for years to come. And while minor construction issues linger, (the contractor has a list of finishing items that have yet to be completed), PennDOT officials said it will wrap up by the end of the year. There will be plantings that take place next year due to seasonal requirements.

“Even though the construction is over and business is coming back,” Weinstein said, “it is going to be difficult to overcome what we went through this year.”

The next phase of the marketing plan is the distribution of eco-friendly totebags that will go to 25,000 residents. The tote bags are to remind residents to shop local for the holidays and contain Decemberfest fliers. Weinstein paid for the bags which were sitting in a warehouse because the funds were not available.

Oberson is hoping residents realize how important it is to support their community businesses this year.

“I hope people will spend their money locally,” he said. “A dollar spent here means so much more than that same dollar spent in a chain store. The business corridor affects the community, house values and every business that closes jeopardizes the others.”

For more information on Decemberfest, visit www.mtairydecemberfest.com. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Cresheim Valley Road on Friday, Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. and the block party will take place on Germantown Avenue from Willow Grove to Mt. Pleasant avenues from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6.