Business owners in Downtown Jacksonville affected by ongoing construction

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Construction on New Bridge St. in Jacksonville started in March 2023 and businesses say it has affected their sales.

A street is open, but there’s still a lot more construction to go on New Bridge St.

Jonathan Popkin, the owner of BoomTown Furniture says his revenue is down 40% to 50%. “My family has been here 70 years,” said Popkin. “We’ve been through wars, tornadoes, hurricanes floods you name it, but this is probably the most devastating thing that we’ve had. I think the main issue is it’s been going on for so long, and we have a long way to go.”

Amy Ruiz owns Southern Roots located in Downtown Jacksonville which opened in July. However, construction in the area caused a few hiccups.

“We did have to close down due to some of the mistakes they made with the sewer lines,” said Ruiz.

The construction on Wednesday is between New Bridge St and Bordeaux St.

Charity Baysden, says the construction started in March 2023.“We started working in phases with the water line first,” said Baysden. “We got all of the waterline replaced and certified. Now, we are going through with the storm drain.”

Baysden says the construction will rejuvenate the downtown area, while Popkin is ready for business to get back to normal.

“I hope they get it done,” said Popkin. “Obviously, so we can go to back to some normalcy. In a perfect world, we would have people come downtown and enjoy the downtown area.”

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