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Slow business for bars, restaurants during North Ave. construction leads one to reduce hours

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Slow business for bars, restaurants during North Ave. construction leads one to reduce hours

Bars and restaurants on East North Avenue are seeing slower business after road construction started a couple of weeks ago, temporarily turning the east side thoroughfare into a one-way street going west between North Humboldt Boulevard and North Farwell Avenue.

The construction is part of the city’s plan to add permanent protected bike lanes and traffic calming measures to slow down traffic. Business owners were told that it would take about two months to complete.

“People have the mindset that they don’t want to come down here. It’s too much trouble, and it’s starting to have a big effect on the businesses,” said Mark Zierath, co-owner of Von Trier, which is near the eastern end of the construction, at 2235 N. Farwell Ave.

The restaurant announced on Sept. 24 that it was changing its hours and would be closed Mondays and Tuesdays and close early on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, when the kitchen also would be closed.

“We’re not trying to tell everyone that it’s doomsday, but we see the writing on the wall for the short term,” Zierath said. “I’d rather react sooner than later. I don’t want to be here a month from now and say, ‘I wish we would have shortened our hours.'”

Zierath said business on East North Avenue has been down since the COIVD-19 pandemic, on top of rising food and labor costs, and he already had been considering shortening his hours.

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s just one thing on top of everything else,” he said.

He said it was especially frustrating as UW-Milwaukee students recently returned to the east side, which usually brings in more business for the German bar and restaurant.

“Summer tends to be the slower seasons for the hospitality industry on the east side, and as soon as school gets back and we approach our busy seasons, then the construction starts,” Zierath said. “So it’s like, you need to start this now?”

While Von Trier is the only business to publicly announce a change in hours with construction, other businesses have slowed down, too.

Mark Buesing, who owns Hooligan’s Super Bar, 2017 E. North Ave., said that no one came in on Wednesday, Sept. 25, between 4 and 6 p.m.

“Usually we do decent business for happy hour. I’m hoping the weekend is better,” he said. “My concern is if it will be a 40 to 50% decline on Monday through Wednesday, I’m going to close those days, and we’d have to let a cook go.”

Buesing, and other business owners, wanted to remind people to visit their favorite spots on the east side.

“North Avenue businesses need all the people they can get to come down here and support because not every business knows if they are going to make it next month,” he said.

Hooligan’s has been an east side staple since it opened as a deli in 1936. A handful of other businesses, including Landmark Lanes, Von Trier and Beans and Barley, also have been serving east-siders for decades.

“People spent formative years on the east side, but you have to remember that these institutions need business after you leave,” aid Jim Neumeyer, co-owner of Beans and Barley.

Beans and Barley has sit-down dining, a hot bar for to-go food, and a small grocery and gifts store.

“After inflation hit, we saw not as many people in the dining room,” Neumeyer said. “For the other part of our business, we focus on hyper-local and convenience, but it’s not as convenient with the construction, so it’s definitely slowed down since that started.”

Neumeyer also said the area hasn’t recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“By in large, our area needs some pep,” he said. “Other areas of the city have been killing it. We just have to come back together as a place to be, and we might have to great creative.”

Vier North, which opened in the former Vitucci’s space at 1832 E. North Ave. in January this year, is getting creative to draw in business while the construction project is going on.

“We went around and gave out flyers, just because we knew people on the east side wouldn’t be driving past here,” said Melanie Peterson, who manages operations for Vier North.

Vier North started a $10 pizza and beer or $10 pizza and burger “hard hat” deal for construction workers. They also hope to attract east side residents with their shuttles for the Brewers playoff run and Bucks games, beginning with the team’s first home preseason game on Oct. 10. The bar also plans to have bar crawl shuttles events.

“It’s a great option for people who are annoyed with transportation,” Peterson said.

Michael Vitucci, who owns Izzy Hops, just off North Avenue at 2311 N. Murray Ave., said business has been down a bit, but overall he was happy to have the construction project started.

He said that the Department of Public Works was communicating well with businesses, and that it adjusted stoplights on East Locust Street to help ease traffic for those coming in from the west.

“North Avenue is long overdue for an overhaul. There’s never a perfect time for it,” he said. “I think the east side is a very vibrant area. This is going to beautify it. We’re being optimistic.”

The construction project on East North Avenue stretches from North Humboldt Boulevard to North Prospect Avenue, with two stages of work planned to take place through Nov. 30, according to the City of Milwaukee’s project website. During both stages, only westbound traffic is permitted between North Humboldt Boulevard and North Farwell Avenue; two-way traffic is still permitted between Farwell and Prospect. Parking is not permitted anywhere along North Avenue during the project.

More: North Avenue has redesigned bike lanes. Drivers keep parking in them

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