Detroit — With the completion of a plaza linking Greektown with downtown Detroit, business owners in the historic ethnic district said they have high hopes that a nearly-finished streetscape project will boost shops, bakeries and restaurants after more than a year of construction.
Tasso Teftsis, who has owned Astoria Pastry Shop on Monroe Street for 55 years, said he’s proud of how the new Monroe Street landscape complements Greektown’s architecture with greenery, lighting and granite street pavers. With fences removed recently from the now-curbless 500 block of Monroe, Teftsis said business already seems to be rebounding.
“I don’t know how it’s going to be moving forward but the first two weeks we saw business back to normal,” Teftsis said. “I really feel for every business, especially businesses that rent, that their business is down but I think they’re really … going to like what we built and it’s going to bring people in.”
The Gratiot-Randolph plaza is part of a $20 million streetscape project, spearheaded by the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership and funded by a state grant, that began in March of last year. The plaza was dedicated with a ribbon-cutting Wednesday, and the overall streetscape work is on track to be completed by fall.
Athina Papas, board chair and president of the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership, said as construction winds down, businesses are seeing traffic pick up.
“As we start taking away different construction barriers, although all businesses have remained open through all of these projects, it sometimes can obstruct people’s views or (make them) not want to walk through it, so we’ve certainly seen an increase,” she said.
Teftsis said the streetscape project, which includes wider sidewalks, dozens of new trees and flexible curb-less lanes — allowing blocks of Monroe to be closed to cars for events — should draw foot traffic to Greektown businesses by making the district more pedestrian-friendly.
“The community wants it. They don’t want to see cars. They love walking in the space,” Teftsis said.
Paul Talia, the general manger at the Buffalo Wild Wings near the site of the plaza, said the restaurant saw little negative impact as construction didn’t block its doors like it did for other businesses on Monroe.
“We saw a dip, not as much as everyone else … the plaza wasn’t as affected as the rest of them were down in the streetscape, so they saw a bigger dip. Their doors were covered up at times with the construction where we still had an open plaza as they were doing each part of the plaza.
“The main goal was we knew once everything was done how amazing the entire Greektown area is going to look,” he said. “From what it was, to what it is now, I don’t have the words to say how great it is.
“With these improvements now, especially the landscaping, the lights, we can do more during the holiday season, decorating the area, lightening the place up,” Talia said. It’s been amazing the growth we’ve seen. I’ve been here 14 years and the growth we’re seeing in this area is just amazing right now.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Greektown business owners upbeat as streetscape project nears end
Reporting by Myesha Johnson, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Myesha Johnson, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
