Many Halifax businesses frustrated with ongoing downtown construction

Halifax business owners say ongoing construction on Argyle Street is disrupting customers.

Philip Holmans says the sounds outside his downtown Halifax business World Tea House are not what his customers want to hear while sipping a cup of tea.

“The bulk of my business is between noon and four, which is prime jackhammer time,” he says.

Repairs are being made to a drainage system on Argyle Street that were put in nine years ago. At that time, Holmans says business dropped by 75 per cent. While it’s still early, he says he’s seeing the same thing this time.

“We have nobody sitting inside because nobody wants to sit and listen to this,” he says. “It literally penetrates the whole shop; you can hardly talk to customers at the counter.”

The repairs are happening on the section of Argyle Street between Sackville and Blowers streets. It’s an area with lots of bars, restaurants and cafés.

“It was installed back in 2017, so it’s been a place for almost 10 years now. It is reaching the end of its life a little earlier than expected and the one that we’re replacing it with is a bit more robust so we’re expecting to get more time out of that one,” says Jake Fulton, a public affairs advisor with the Halifax Regional Municipality.

“It’s a little frustrating,” says Paul MacKinnon, CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.

MacKinnon says business owners dealt with major disruptions during the initial construction. The work this time around is more maintenance and shouldn’t be as much of a burden.

“The important thing we want to of course highlight is that the businesses are still open, they’re all fully accessible, the patios are still here. The only difference at the moment is the businesses can’t do their extended patios, which they will be doing later this summer,” he says.

“It’s important to note that the work is happening near the middle of the street, so no impacts to access to patios or businesses or properties in the area,” Fulton says.

Holmans says his patio is usually out by now, but it will most likely be a month or more before he puts out his chairs and tables.

The original timeline was for four-to-five weeks, but the crew says they’re a bit ahead of schedule so there’s hope they’ll be wrapping up earlier.

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