Is downtown Concord construction forcing shops and restaurants out of business?
In downtown Concord, where National Register of Historic Places signs beckon you to recall the past, modern construction is pushing its way in.
After a new courthouse was built, a streetscape project to widen sidewalks took over, along with cutting-edge high-rise apartments. The updates to the look and feel of the area are meant to attract visitors and new residents, but the work is blocking out the foot traffic that’s the lifeblood of a traditional downtown corridor.
Road closed signs greet visitors arriving by car, forcing drivers to circle back to a parking garage or search for street spots. A handful of businesses have lots out back — but you have to know to look for them.
Once on Union Street — the main drag — new challenges await: ever-shifting orange construction fencing, uneven surfaces and patches of rough terrain, plus noisy machinery kicking up dust. With rain, add mud to the mix.
In an era where convenience is king, would-be customers don’t push through the gauntlet. About two years into the project, several businesses in the once-thriving downtown have long past hit their breaking points.
Family-owned Cabarrus Creamery, which opened in downtown Concord more than 100 years ago, temporarily closed in November amid frustrations with the street closures. Owner Hunter Huss plans to reopen, but a date has not been set.
Anchor restaurant Gianni’s Trattoria left downtown at the end of March over construction challenges coupled with rising rent prices. The Cigar Loft closed in June. Tokyo-Hanoi Fusion temporarily closed in early August.
And then last week, three more small business owners hit their limits.
Last Tuesday, Cabo Winery posted via Instagram: “After 9 years of business in downtown Concord, we were unable to resign our lease for business. We are having to close, as the building is being sold and the new buyers have their business venture they are opening.”
Nearby Table 11’s last day to serve bowls and burgers was Friday. It plans to shift the restaurant into catering.
“It’s just a shame, and all the businesses that are closed and being affected,” owner Robert VanAtta told CharlotteFive as he cooked lunch for a handful of patiently waiting diners.
Union Street Nutrition joined them, shutting its doors for good on Saturday after two and a half years of selling protein shakes and coffees.
“We can’t wait it out anymore,” said owner Megan Baranko, whose shop was open about two months before the street and sidewalk construction began.
A statement from the city of Concord said: “Through the streetscape project, we’re not just updating 100-year-old infrastructure, we’re creating new opportunities for outdoor dining, entertainment and places for the community to gather, and we’re so close to seeing that vision come to life. Soon, businesses will be adding outdoor seating and dining as work is nearly complete on the sidewalks and the social district is already bringing more people downtown.
“The current contract substantial completion date is September 22, and although extensions due to weather delays are likely, we’re making every effort to return annual events to Union Street this fall. We know the construction has been challenging, especially for businesses, but the best thing we can do as a community is to continue to show up for one another and support our downtown businesses.”
Holding out hope
At 2 Gals Kitchen, ladies and couples lunching Friday sparsely dotted the dining room, leaving plenty of seating open for others. Over the next hour, a few more waded through the construction, trickling in for a Courthouse club sandwich or a wrap with Dan’s Spicy Tuna.
“We’re the only ones to parade through the wilderness today,” a customer told the waitress seating him.
But that hasn’t always been the case at 10-year-old 2 Gals, a two-time Cabarrus Burger Madness winning restaurant with a reputation for delicious bites.
“Normally, at this point, almost every table in here would be full. Pre-construction, that’s where we’d be right now,” owner Mary Niemeier, who originally went into business with her mom, Belinda, told CharlotteFive.
Niemeier works the kitchen while her business partner, Rebecca Englebach, works the dining room. Business is running at less than half of what it was two years ago, but catering orders help fill in some gaps, Niemeier said.
Adding to the construction challenges, the new Cabarrus Courthouse unveiled a year ago was built with its entrance on Church Street — not facing Union Street, where the 1975 section of the courthouse led folks toward.
“Especially if people are on a 30-minute lunch break, it’s hard for them” to navigate the construction, Niemeier said. “It’s been a mess.”
The construction started in front of 2 Gals, so it’s among the businesses that have endured the chaos the longest.
“We’ve all been hanging on by our fingernails for the last little bit,” Niemeier said.
But she’s willing to wait it out because the street and sidewalk construction is expected to wrap up in a few months. Some cite the city’s September completion date, while others expect unpredictable conditions through the end of the year.
“I always have hope — I never give up. I’m not a giver upper. And we have amazing customers. We’ve had amazing support from people who’ve been loyal and faithful to us,” Niemeier said.
And 2 Gals isn’t alone.
“I think that it’s important for people to know that there are still a lot of us down here, Niemeier said. “It’s a misconception that everything’s closed — not everything’s closed. There’s at least 30 businesses still down here.”
Staying alive
Just a short walk away at Lil’ Robert’s Place, a lone couple sat among an eclectic collection of upcycled decor, sipping pints underneath Christmas lights, a hammock with blow-up bananas and a mannequin rescued out of a Belk dumpster.
In the rest of the cavernous space, you could hear a pin drop.
There’s been so little business that Lil’ Robert’s closed through most of the construction and only recently opened on Fridays. The Mullet — an adjoining thrift shop and bar — is eeking out just enough to help keep the whole operation going. There’s even a pass-through between the spaces — hidden by a surfboard on the Lil’ Robert’s side — that opens straight into a refrigerator on The Mullet side.
“At this point, there’s no need to be upset. All I do is laugh. I’ve lost everything — what am I going to complain about?” Lil’ Robert’s Place owner Robert Burrage told CharlotteFive.
“We’re still here.”
Burrage’s family has lived in the area for seven generations, so he’s been through what he calls “a few different versions of downtown Concord.” The dive bar that carries his nickname has been downtown since February 2010.
As he shared his story, the bartender darted out to pick up the last lunch she’ll ever have at neighboring Table 11. A few doors down, Cabo Winery sits dark and empty, with a sign that reads “closeout sale” posted on the front door.
“We’re losing friends. Some of them are due to the construction, and they just couldn’t withstand the drought,” Burrage said, noting the work has dragged out way longer than first expected.
“It’s become a joke, watching people fill the same hole over and over. Spend three hours digging and refilling,” he said.
He’s long past the point of running out of money at Lil’ Robert’s, now borrowing and accepting handouts from folks who want to help keep the bar open.
But there’s also a new stressor: landlords see post-construction potential. So, they’re jacking the rent up and selling the properties — as in the case of Gianni’s and Cabo Winery.
“They’re going to have to go up on the rent before the construction is up,” Burrage said.
At the same time, he’s trying to piece together some hope that once the construction is finished, the city’s newly unveiled social district will assist downtown’s revival. Burrage said he and Ford Craven of Southern Strain Brewing were among the first to try it out Aug. 1, carrying drinks from place to place.
“Now, with the social district, it’s not making a difference, yet. But it will,” he said. “My goal is to try to be very positive,” Burrage said.
A different perspective: ‘We knew what we were walking into’
Across the street, Dawon Millwood — who co-owns Local Bottle Shop with wife Kelsey Babis — had a different take than many shop owners on Union Street, having just opened in March.
“We don’t know any different — we knew what we were walking into,” Millwood told CharlotteFive.
In addition to serving beer, wine, cider and kombucha, Local Bottle Shop focuses on holding a couple events each week. You can bring your dog with you for trivia or bingo. There are also karaoke nights and yoga sessions.
“We’re giving people a reason to come downtown other than do the same things or go to dinner or whatever,” Millwood said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to bring the community together and bring them back into downtown — any reason to get people downtown.
“Downtown Concord was a thriving place,” she said, acknowledging that the construction is taking longer than a lot of people wanted to. “It’s going to be a re-energizer and a fresh breath of air to get it back to where it was 50-60 years ago.”
Down the street at Press & Porter Coffee & Pourhouse, co-owners and sisters Emily Cordero and Anna Pinto are among the few downtown shops doing a brisk business.
Minivans fill the dedicated parking in the back of the coffee shop that opened in 2019, with a small group of women lingering outside to chat. Inside, most of the crowd is moms and dads sipping lattes while their small children play.
“I feel like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Cordero said, expecting the construction to end soon. But she’s hesitant to celebrate too much.
“I mean, after which is all said and done, we’re gonna have these beautiful sidewalks, but there’s gonna be empty storefronts and nothing else, so it’s kinda like, what’s the point, you know?
“And I do think that they’ll fill in, but I just have to wonder if it’s going to be chains and big businesses filling in these spaces just because of high rent prices. So we’re just really hopeful that when it’s all said and done, that it still has a small town feel,” Cordero said.
“Support downtown business!” Pinto chimed in.
This story was originally published August 20, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
