Linden Hills businesses struggle, consider closing as construction delays continue

MINNEAPOLIS — For Everett & Charlie Gallery curator Suzie Marty, picking her favorite work of art in her Linden Hills business, which features work exclusively from Minnesota artists, is like picking her favorite child.

There’s just one big problem of late.

“It’s just crickets out here right now,” said Marty.
    
Marti said she saw just six customers all day Saturday. That number should be closer to 20 or 30.
    
All you have to do is walk outside to 43rd and Upton to find the cause: Sewer, water main and new bus line construction by the city of Minneapolis and Metro Transit.
    
Work was scheduled to finish mid-summer. That date has now moved to sometime in the fall.

“It has hurt our Linden Hills businesses severely,” said Marty.
    
Marty said she has had to cut staff and close early some days.

“Quite honestly, I can’t afford to pay them when there’s not any revenue coming in the way it used to be,” said Marty.
    
The Linden Hills Neighborhood Council said the delays from unexpected subsurface issues have dropped area business by as much as 60 percent. 

The council said some businesses are considering closure.

“Having this hit us at the busiest time of the year for us has been brutal,” said Kyle O’Hara, General Manager at Tilia.

Business is about half of what it was last year and is almost worse than it was during the pandemic restrictions of 2020, O’Hara said. Construction delays have compounded frustrations.

“They promised a certain deadline and as it approached it would be another month, another two months,” said O’Hara.

Both O’Hara and Marty said communication from both the city and Metro Transit has been lacking, only improving very recently. A spokesperson for Metro Transit said business outreach has been ongoing, beginning from the planning stages.
    
Business owners said people going out of their way during this time has been crucial, as local businesses try to survive at a time of the year they should be thriving.

“I’ve had two different customers come in and they have specifically said ‘I’m here to support the Linden Hills businesses’ and they purposely are purchasing,” said Marty. “I almost burst into tears the other day, quite honestly.”

“We truly appreciate all those people very very much,” she said.