Prosperity Church Road business owners say construction, name change hurting their bottom line

When Isaac Dorbor opened his barbershop in the Prosperity Shopping Plaza three years ago, traffic to the shop was steady, his employees juggled 200 clients on average and the business saw about 30 walk-in customers on a slow day.

But that was before construction on Interstate 485 in northeast Mecklenburg spawned new traffic patterns, closed roads and changed street names. Now the employees at World Class Barbers are lucky if they cut eight heads on a slow day, Dorbor said. Two barbers have left the shop and revenues have dropped by 30 percent, he said.

Dorbor is one of about a half-dozen business owners in the area who say they have seen declining revenues some as much as 70 percent because construction has taken away their frontage and frustrates customers. Some say theyre preparing to spend thousands to reprint fliers, brochures and menus after city officials changed part of Prosperity Church Road to Docia Crossing.

Its not insignificant money when you spend $2,000 to $3,000 on advertising, said Danny Leon, who owns CKO Kickboxing in the plaza with his wife, Amy. We spent a great deal of money on literature.

Expected to open in December, the final 5.7-mile section of I-485s outer loop caps a 25-year, 67-mile project. The latest roadwork rerouted part of Prosperity Church Road, and the businesses in Prosperity Shopping Plaza now have a Docia Crossing address.

The city renamed that stretch of Prosperity Church Road to minimize confusion, said Doreen Szymanski, spokeswoman with the Charlotte Department of Transportation.

In this case, changing the name of that short piece of Prosperity Church made more sense than renaming Prosperity Church for miles, she said. You affect fewer businesses, fewer property owners. If you have two Prosperity Church roads ... it really sets up a condition whereby emergency services could have trouble finding the location.

City officials said they met with business owners and added signs to help customers find the plaza during the heaviest phases of construction.

I would have thought that would have had some impact on the business owners concerns, said city Councilman Greg Phipps, who represents District 4 and sits on the councils transportation and planning committee.

The cost of change

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Prosperity Church Road business owners say construction, name change hurting their bottom line