Road to Mandalay repairs long, bumpy

Retailers, who say the $2.3-million streetscaping project has drained away business for almost a year, will cheer its end.

By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 2, 2003

CLEARWATER -- No longer does Atif Kader have to usher his patrons in and out the back door of his pizza parlor to avoid the torn-up street outside.

As for the regulars at the nearby Beach Bar, they'll only have to contend with the effects of beers -- not cones and barricades -- in navigating their way down the sidewalk.

Now that the $2.3-million project to improve streetscaping along Mandalay Avenue is drawing to a close, business owners say they can finally start getting back to normal.

The project, which began in May, was expected to be completed by February. But work was delayed by the age and condition of the material under the street. Now, the city says it'll be finished by month's end.

"Finding the condition of the underground infrastructure worse than what it should have been, it took us longer to get everything upgraded," said City Manager Bill Horne. "But it has helped us realize that wherever we dig in Clearwater, we should always expect a challenge because of old infrastructure."

Because of the time it took to finish the job, some business owners said it made doing business along the popular stretch tough.

"I like what they've done -- it looks nice," said Greg Musick, the owner of the Beach Bar at 454 Mandalay Ave. "I just don't think it should have taken so long."

Musick said that over the course of the construction, his business was down about 35 percent.

Kader, meanwhile, said he lost about $60,000 and plans to ask the city to reimburse him.

"They took out my sidewalk for almost 20 days," the owner of Captains Pizza at 462 Mandalay said. "This was the worst year I've ever had -- after Sept. 11, I didn't feel nothing, but the construction. . .

"I'm glad the construction is finished," Kader added.

As part of the project, workers relocated overhead utility hardware underground and added medians, sidewalks and irrigation to support landscaping, as well as benches and decorative light poles.

Sewer lines and drains were also upgraded, and the last coat of new asphalt is expected to bring the project to a close at the end of April.

Horne said that although Mandalay businesses experienced some hardship, he felt the improvements, in the long run, would be a benefit for all involved.

"There have been bumps in the road along the way, but we all stayed focused," he said. "We see it as a win-win for us as a community -- that one of the areas we believe has always been successful will continue to be successful."

-- Leon M. Tucker can be reached at 445-4167 or tucker@sptimes.com .

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