The city of St. Cloud is working on making the downtown area more attractive, but the process is causing some businesses owners to say the project is costing them money.  

Adam Wagner, the owner of 10th Street Produce, said his sales have dropped by 40% almost every week since construction began in downtown St. Cloud. 

The city is working on Phase 2 of its downtown revitalization project — officials say new brick paver streets, sidewalks, lighting and landscaping are coming soon. But this $10 million renovation is causing some headaches to small business owners like Wagner. 

Wagner said all the construction is deterring people from walking into his shop.

“Well, on a personal level — I will be honest with you, my wife and I haven’t collected a paycheck in seven weeks,” he said. “We’re trying to keep our employees employed and keep this business running during this construction.” 

Wagner started a petition to raise awareness about how his and other businesses are being affected by the road closures and detours.

St. Cloud officials say they aer looking into grant money to help businesses cover expenses during this time. They also said they’re working on making more parking available at City Hall for customers. They said they hope to complete the downtown construction project by October. 

The city of St. Cloud sent a statement to Spectrum News 13 that, in part, reads:

“We understand and are sympathetic to the concerns of the business owners. We have created a plan to increase communication between the city and the business owners, including on-site visits with them, weekly email updates, text blasts for any last minute important updates, regular posts to social media, and updates at the monthly Downtown Business Group meetings.” 

There are multiple construction projects happening this week. The first is a project on 10th Street between Massachusetts and New York: Crews are continuing to work on installing electrical components needed for the new lighting fixtures. Another is also on 10th Street between New York and Pennsylvania: Installation of a new storm water system is complete, and they will next do electrical work.

Two additional projects are being completed on Pennsylvania Avenue, which currently remains closed between 9th and 10th street. They needed the closure because of the discovery of underground utilities that weren’t mapped. A spokesperson said it can be common for that to happen, particularly with utilities that were placed many decades ago. 

Pennsylvania and 10th Street Intersection will be closed overnight from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. beginning Sunday, July 17th and continuing through Thursday morning, July 21st. The intersection will be open daily from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. They need the nightly closure in order for crews to complete underground storm water and utilities work.