Project hit Marietta Square businesses in the cash registers

Neville Steel is ready for the weekend.

Steel saw business at his Australian Bakery Café decline by 50 percent some days since January, when a major makeover of the Marietta Square began. Roads and sidewalks were blocked for days at a time, making it difficult for customers to approach stores and restaurants.

“Things have been quieter,” Steel said. “Some days are terrible.”

He’s hoping Friday night’s free concert on the Square and Sunday’s Taste of Marietta will signal a rebirth of business for the square.

The city spent $1.3 million to tear up and resurface streets, replace an old water main, build brick crosswalks and replace street poles. Dan Conn, Marietta public works director, said he expected the major work to be finished before Sunday.

“Mostly we will be cleaning up and getting ready for the weekend’s events,” he said.

The square is the heart of this historic city, with a bandstand for concerts, a gazebo, a playground and a fountain. Cobb County government buildings occupy one side of the square; shops and restaurants, the other three sides.

Square mainstay Hemingway’s Bar & Grill used the four-month project as an opportunity to renovate. Owners David and Patricia Mendelson reopened March 1.

Although the business was closed during much of the busiest construction, Hemingway’s was hit with extremely high water bills, Patricia Mendelson said.

“The worst part was when [the city] replaced the water line outside our business,” she said. “That affected our water, and we had to drain our water every day.”

Missi Leanza, who owns the North Park Bistro and adjacent Kybele Turkish Mediterranean Restaurant, said business dropped off 75 percent since January.

“It’s been awful,” she said. “The dust and dirt have hurt business.”