Jimmy Stone Jordan said customer visits to his Stoney’s barbershop on Edgewood Avenue dropped for months at a time while workers built part of the new Atlanta Streetcar system outside his shop’s front door.
But last week, Jordan attached red, white and blue balloons to the front of his shop to welcome the streetcar’s inaugural run — and, he hopes, a stream of new customers.
“It’s been long anticipated. A long ride,” Jordan said. “I think this is going to be a good thing.”
Like other business owners near the new track — not all of whom are as optimistic about the streetcar’s effect — he’s also relieved that the stress on his livelihood has finally come to an end after two-plus years of construction.
“It’s just been a headache. The dust. It slowed down (customer) traffic a lot because people didn’t want to fight” traffic congestion caused by blocked streets and construction, said Jordan, who estimated his revenues dropped 20 percent.
The new downtown streetcar system, owned by the city and operated by MARTA, went into operation Dec. 30 with packed cars and much fanfare. It stretches east and west roughly a mile, from Centennial Olympic Park to Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Business owners along the 2.7 mile loop hope the $98 million project will raise the profile of their sometimes struggling neighborhoods by luring local workers, tourists and business travelers with rides that are free for the first three months and $1 after that.
Deandre Aikens, who opened his Tops Boutique music and screen printing shop on Edgewood in late 2013, plans a belated grand opening to take advantage of an anticipated jump in visitors to the neighborhood.
“I think it’s going to bring a whole lot of customers,” he said.
City officials projected that the system will carry an average of 2,600 passengers on weekdays. But about 95 percent of the projected long-term benefit, the city estimated, will come from the economic boost, including new real estate development and higher land values in areas near the rail system.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said at last week’s inaugural run that more than $400 million in development projects have been built or launched within five miles of the project since it was announced in 2010.
Critics of the system fear that it may be an expensive boondoggle that won’t come close to delivering the projected benefits. They cite costs that escalated from $70 million to almost $100 million, and construction and operational delays that pushed the launch back by a year and a half.
They also worry that the 15-minute interval between cars’ arrivals at each of the rail loop’s 12 stops will decrease its usefulness to potential riders, who may opt to walk or skip the excursion altogether.
Membi Haile said times were “really hard” during construction and she’s unconvinced the streetcars will bring much of a boost to her shop, Sweet Auburn Grocery. “Hopefully it will improve a little,” she said. If so, maybe she’ll add sandwiches to her wares, she said.
“Whether they get their money’s worth, I don’t know,” Pam Culbreath, co-owner of Sisters Bookshop in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, said of the streetcar system’s price tag.
Still, she’s hopeful that it could be the beginning of a resurgence in Atlanta’s historic Sweet Auburn area, once known as one of America’s most vibrant districts of African-American-owned businesses.
Sales at her bookshop dropped about 50 percent during the worst of the rail system’s construction, she said. Since then, she’s seen business pick up. Many are new customers unfamiliar with the city-owned Sweet Auburn market, she added.
“We hear that same story every day. ‘I didn’t know you were here,’ ” she said.
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