‘Cruise ship passengers are walking right by’: Construction cutting into Halifax business

A shop owner in downtown Halifax says ongoing construction is affecting business.

Patio season is underway in Halifax, but Philip Holmans, owner of World Tea House on Argyle Street, still hasn’t put out his chairs and tables due to ongoing construction.

“It’s challenging. The lack of foot traffic is the big thing and with a lack of foot traffic comes a lack of revenue,” says Holmans.

“Cruise ship passengers are walking right by and they’re not even coming down the street. You can see them going up and they look and see the fencing and keep going”

Holmans doesn’t usually work behind the counter, but he has to after letting some staff go and reducing hours for others to make up for the lost revenue.

“We had to draw from a line of credit to pay rent and payroll and all these things, so we are operating at a negative and that is not sustainable,” he says.

Dexter Construction is working on the repairs between Sackville and Blowers streets in an area with lots of bars, restaurants and cafés.

A drainpipe with an expected lifespan of 25 years was installed in 2017 but that pipe collapsed. The repairs are costing almost $350,000.

“It was showing early signs of ageing, so it was beginning to reach the end of its life earlier than expected so crews have gone in there to replace it and put a more robust type of drain in there this time,” says Jake Fulton, public affairs advisory with the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).

“We do our best to reduce the impacts, work with businesses to make sure they’re able to keep operating through the construction.”

The work is now in its sixth week.

“We kind of hoped the work would be done in a shorter timeframe,” says Paul MacKinnon, CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission. “On a beautiful day like today you’d expect these patios to be full and they’re not so everyone understands construction has to happen, but it is unfortunately having a negative impact on businesses.”

MacKinnon is hopeful the province will soon respond to a request made for the establishment of a construction mitigation fund.

“What HRM has requested of the province is a change to provincial legislation,” says MacKinnon. “This would be a way that would add a bit of money in the pot. It would allow the city to offer the businesses some type of compensation for loss sales.”

MacKinnon says this is common practice in some Canadian cities.

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