‘It’s like COVID’: Sugar House businesses feel construction sting once again this summer

SALT LAKE CITY — Chad Hopkins attended many of the planning meetings before Salt Lake City embarked on an ambitious plan to overhaul the heart of Sugar House.

The city also warned him as road work neared his business along 2100 South earlier this year, but little could have prepared him for how construction would impact numbers at his brewpub, Hopkins Brewing Company. Year-over-year sales, he says, are down 20% this year after a 20% drop-off last year.

“We’re basically cut in half from a couple of years ago,” he told KSL.com Wednesday, while crews continued to work outside.

Construction recently returned to the heart of the Sugar House business district, cutting off eastbound traffic along 2100 South from 900 East to 1100 South while crews replace infrastructure underneath the road before resurfacing the road. One westbound lane is still open on a section of the road that went through repairs last year, and sidewalks are open to get to businesses.

Hopkins, who grew up in Sugar House, is thrilled about Salt Lake City’s plans to revamp the road that needed repair. However, with construction now directly outside the front door of his bar and restaurant, he’s left in a position where he’s had to ask his landlord for a reprieve while he braces for one last sting this summer.

“It’s at a point where it’s like COVID,” he said, referring to the pandemic that heavily disrupted his business and the whole restaurant industry. “Like we’re down to where COVID was, and that’s scary for us. … It’s been really rough this past month, especially.”

 

Sugar House construction

 

Salt Lake City’s 2100 South reconstruction project is one of the last pieces from Salt Lake City’s Funding Our Future bond, which city residents voted to approve in 2018. The project has blended a reconstruction of the roadway along with the replacement of various infrastructure that’s about a century old. All of the work now should push the need for those types of repairs in the future.

Construction began last year, but a separate project to repair 1100 East/Highland Drivetook place during most of 2023 and 2024, wrapping up earlier this year.

The area has also been home to rapid redevelopment as more mixed-use housing projects have been constructed over the past several years, adding to everything. It didn’t help that one of those projects caught fire in 2022, leading to shutdowns near the corner of 2100 South and Highland Drive for several days. The fire extended the complex’s construction timeline before it wrapped up earlier this year.

 

The ‘brutal’ impacts

 

Hopkins is far from alone in his struggles. The experience has been “brutal,” says Rick Seven, marketing director for Salt Lake Brewing Company, which owns eight restaurants, including the Corner Brew Pub Sugar House on the corner of 2100 South and Highland Drive.

Given its corner location, it’s been at the center of everything. The current construction outside its northern side is just the latest impact. Highland Drive’s reopening and the open 2100 South sidewalks have helped, but sales have lagged.

“We’ve tried to get people in. We’ve run specials; we’ve done a lot of things, and a lot of other (businesses) have to get people in,” he said.

Some businesses have closed, and some have relocated since construction began. SugarHouse Barbeque Company was among those last year. The restaurant faced several challenges before construction, largely because of the pandemic. Ownership saw the 2100 South project as the final nail in its coffin.

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People avoid Sugar House right now, and I kind of do too, honestly. If I don’t have to go there, I won’t.

–Rick Seven, marketing director for Salt Lake Brewing Company

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Construction update meetings have been emotional for others still hanging on. Some have been on the “verge of tears” as they’ve described putting their life savings into keeping their business afloat, Seven said.

The headaches reached a boiling point for Bruges Belgian Bistro, which posted a video to social media on Monday describing the burdens that small businesses have faced for years now.

Although most of the construction has wrapped up outside the business along Highland Drive, Noe Vandamme, the restaurant’s retail operations manager, who narrated the video, said many people just refuse to go to the neighborhood while construction is going on elsewhere. It doesn’t help that another Highland Drive project, a few blocks from the business, is also underway right now.

The point of the video was to explain the situation and try to get people back to the area.

“There are a lot of businesses that need help; it’s not just us,” he said. “If you like a small business somewhere in Sugar House, especially on these roads that are really struggling right now, we’d love for you guys to go help them.”

The video quickly gained support from customers who say they’re frustrated with the construction. Impacted businesses say they understand why people avoid the area because traffic patterns have changed frequently over the years.

“People avoid Sugar House right now, and I kind of do too, honestly,” Seven said. “If I don’t have to go there, I won’t.”

 

The city’s response

 

Vandamme spoke to KSL.com shortly after city representatives met with them about the video. He said the meeting felt confrontational, while a city spokesperson said the meeting was part of outreach to better understand the concerns of businesses this summer.

Bruges received $3,000 from the city to help with construction impacts. Salt Lake City’s economic development department offers as much annually from its Small Business Construction Mitigation Grant Program, which goes toward hardship costs.

The city said the company only applied once out of three possibilities, but Pierre Vandamme, the business’ owner, said he didn’t bother applying again because of how small the paycheck was. Construction impacts have likely cost the business $150,000 to this point, he estimates as he sits inside his Sugar House shop.

He says the money it would take to relocate was also lost during the past few years of underperformance, but he’s willing to consider that if things don’t improve over the last few years of his lease.

Hopkins has mixed feelings about the experience. He’s aware of the project needs, and he says the city has been mostly helpful in communicating upcoming construction. He’s grateful for the grants he’s received, but he says it’s nowhere near the business he’s lost.

On top of that, he said the sidewalk outside his front door was closed for two days when construction returned this month, which he guesses ate most of what he got from the city before it fixed the issue.

“It’s been incredibly stressful,” he said, as he described the ups and downs of the last few years.

Many of the remaining small businesses say they’re worried they’ll be pushed out by big brands that can afford to take on these challenges longer.

The city is aware of these concerns, especially along 2100 South this summer, Salt Lake City spokesman Andrew Wittenberg said in a statement to KSL.com. That’s why the city has awarded grants, held events to promote the area and tried to find ways to mitigate impacts, like keeping sidewalks open this summer, so people can still get to the businesses.

The city is working with contractors to make sure the project wraps up on schedule, as well. It’s on track to end by this fall.

“While we know it’s not easy to work around, this construction is necessary due to decades of deferred maintenance that caused these roadways to deteriorate significantly,” Wittenberg said, adding that construction tied to private development in the area is mostly out of the city’s control.

“We owe it to our residents, and the future reliability of our infrastructure, to be both thorough and efficient,” he added. “The project has taken time, but in the end, Sugar House businesses and residents will benefit from clean water, reliable utility infrastructure and multi-modal travel options that help clean the air.”