BRANDON, Fla. – A construction project to build a major water main is causing several businesses in eastern y to see sales drop by sixty percent.
The 26-mile water main will be five feet wide and travel through seventeen areas that require the construction of a tunnel.
That includes the intersection of Bloomingdale and Kings Avenue, which is where Karin Araya’s “Bacon Egg N Cheese” food stand is located.
The backstory:
Araya’s team has been serving up New York-style Bacon, Egg and Cheese sandwiches near the intersection for two years.
“Now it’s within reach, not a plane ride away.”
It was a cash cow, until the construction equipment rolled in.
“We knew it would just completely cover us from total main street view or sight, and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
The pipeline will connect Tampa Bay Water’s plant at Falkenburg Rd. to a new plant in Balm.
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“We are absolutely doing everything we can possibly do to mitigate any kind of damage or any kind of inconvenience,” said Sam Flowers of Garney Construction.
Dig deeper:
But Karin is outraged because he says the signs advertising open businesses are too small, that the project is taking longer than expected, and that cars can’t pass through Kings Ave. at all.
Sales are down sixty percent.
“This is our original area where we opened and where we created clientele,” said Araya, “but not just clientele but like a family.”
Another business said their business is also down sixty percent since construction started. But they were too busy to talk to Fox 13 on camera because they’d had to lay off two people.
The influx of construction workers eating at the plaza has not, according to the business owners,” been enough to make up the difference.”
What they’re saying:
“I could move somewhere else,” said Araya, “but now what happens to the people that have been with us for, you know, the two-plus years that we’ve been around.”
Garney Construction says they have taken numerous measures to lessen the impact, including signs, several adjustments to the traffic pattern, and on-site community coordinators to manage complaints.
They acknowledge there are instances where access must be totally cut off, but that usually only lasts under half an hour, according to Flowers.
“It’s a large, complex project in an urban setting,” he said.
What’s next:
Karin says he was originally told the intention was to have the area finished by March. But now it could be June.
“It’s hurting to the point where, what can we do?”
The entire water main project is expected to be completed in 2028.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered through interviews with business owners, including Karin Araya, Sam Flowers of Garney Construction, and information from Tampa Bay Water, Hillsborough County, and https://southhillsboroughpipeline.com/ .
