Business hasn’t been the same for MoreLyfe Juice Co. owner Trinket Lewis ever since construction crews began a series of road improvements outside her store in Cascade Heights nearly two years ago.
The single mom and entrepreneur estimates her juice bar’s sales have decreased by as much as 72% since the Atlanta Department of Transportation temporarily closed the 2-mile stretch of Cascade Road that runs east and west through her commercial district to finish phase one of the corridor’s Complete Street project.
Construction for the nearly $19 million initiative was supposed to start in November 2021, according to the city’s website, but business owners say the project has been delayed multiple times, adding to the timeline and their frustrations.
It’s designed to revitalize the area with transportation infrastructure upgrades, including fresh pavement, sidewalks, bike lanes, and bus stop enhancements to make it safer and more pedestrian friendly. But Lewis and other local small-business owners say the near-constant closure of Cascade Road has diverted traffic and customers away from their stores intermittently for one to two years.
A detour and road closure sign are pictured on Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta on Tuesday. Neighborhood business owners say the road closure has lasted more than a year and has hurt their sales and foot traffic. (Chauncey Alcorn/Capital B)
Four of her six part-time staffers have quit since she was forced to cut their hours due to lost revenue. The nearby home, where she lives with her 10-year-old son, has gone in and out of foreclosure for about a year.
“It is a month-to-month survival,” Lewis told Capital B Atlanta on Monday. “I put most of my savings into this [business]. To see that slowly diminish away, not because I’m doing anything wrong, but because of decisions that the city is making, is heartbreaking.”
Lewis is one of more than 50 Black business owners in southwest Atlanta participating in a Tuesday afternoon press conference organized by local community activists demanding compensation from city officials for yearslong sales declines that they say were caused by the Cascade Road Complete Street shutdown.
Rodney Mullins, founder of We Design Atlanta, a nonprofit working on economic and community development with southwest Atlanta entrepreneurs, said he’s helping the local business community create a recovery plan to save their stores. Part of that plan involves finding out exactly when the city expects to finish its Cascade Road Complete Street improvements.
“They have not been informed of the timeline of the project, they have not been given clear direction on how they can be more agile in this situation,” Mullins told Capital B Atlanta on Monday.
He accused city leaders of doing more to help rescue business owners in neighborhoods like Buckhead and Midtown that were impacted by water main breaks this year than they have for Black business owners on the city’s southwest side.
Former Cascade Heights business owner Lance Robertson stands outside his former CBD City store, which he said he was forced to close last year due to declining foot traffic caused by nearby construction on Cascade Road. (Courtesy of Lance Robertson)
“We need compensation the same way they compensated the businesses in Midtown when they had infrastructure issues,” Mullins added.
The city’s aid won’t come fast enough to help Lance Robertson save his business. The former East Point city councilman said he closed his Cascade Heights health and wellness store, CBD City, toward the end of 2024 after his sales took a nosedive due in part to Cascade Road construction closures.
He now serves as director of government relations for Natson Hotel Group, but said he invested nearly $150,000 in CBD City before declining sales forced him to permanently shutter his store. As a result, Robertson said he struggled with depression for a while.
“There should be some type of financial relief for the existing businesses that are there,” Robertson told Capital B Atlanta. “I do believe that sometimes some areas of town get more attention than others. That’s just proven. That’s life.”
Capital B Atlanta has reached out to the city transportation department for comment.
The post Atlanta Roadwork Hits Black-Owned Businesses Hard in Southwest Neighborhood appeared first on Capital B News – Atlanta.
