Morad Sepahvand has felt the squeeze of city construction on his business.
Sepahvand owns Parsia Mediterranean Grill in a shopping center on 11th Street between Delaware and Lewis avenues. For more than half a year, the center of mostly immigrant-owned businesses has endured orange cones, construction workers and excavators outside their doors.
“I have lost 50% of my business,” said Sepahvand. “I don’t know a lot of others (in this shopping center), but I do know a lot of them don’t have the same business that they had before.”
Tulsa has seen construction on 11th Street between Harvard and Lewis avenues since November. The project was approved in the first Improve Our Tulsa capital renovations package passed in 2013. It’s estimated to cost $2.17 million, according to the city.
City spokesperson Carson Colvin said the city has allotted 324 days for the project, which would put its completion in mid-September at the latest, barring weather delays.
“We understand that construction can sometimes be disruptive for any project that we undertake, which is why it’s so important that all business owners and their customers maintain access to their storefronts,” Colvin said in an email. “This is a priority that the city maintains throughout the entirety of any construction project, this project included.”
Colvin said the city has given businesses signs to direct residents and workers to make sure “access remains open to the businesses during business hours.”
Josh Jones, who owns Jones Co. Coffee, says this sometimes isn’t enough — the cones are still a deterrent, even if they don’t necessarily impede access to his parking lot, he said.
“All (customers) may need is maybe one thing to inconvenience them to make them pass on by,” said Jones.
Jones says the impact of the construction sometimes stretches beyond access to his store. He said his water has been cut off three times.
The city has been responsive in these instances, Jones said, but that his water has been cut off “too many times” for him to feel comfortable.
“Obviously, they have a job to do, and so do I. So if I have a customer who comes through my doors and I’m trying to explain to them that I don’t have water, how patient are they for an excuse like that?” Jones said.
As Jones has done, Colvin encourages business owners with questions about the construction to reach out to the project engineers.
In the meantime, Jones encourages Tulsans to visit businesses in high-construction areas.
“If you have a space, a mom and pop shop, a small business that you frequent, and you know that kind of shape those businesses are in, go out of your way to provide support,” Jones said.
