ATLANTA,None — A metro Atlanta man says a midtown construction project is threatening to ruin his wedding day and his business at the same time.
Jonathan Lanius is a co-owner of DaVinci's Pizza at 1270 West Peachtree St. in midtown Atlanta. The restaurant just happens to be on one of the blocks of West Peachtree Street where the non-profit Midtown Alliance group has hired contractors to lay new sidewalks.
The construction was supposed to take one week but is not completely finished after nine weeks. Lanius says it may force his pizza shop out of business and may ruin his wedding reception, which is scheduled to be held at the restaurant next Sunday.
Channel 2’s Tony Thomas found crews busy pouring concrete and laying pavers in front of the building on Wednesday, and just two customers inside Lanius’s shop.
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"For several days in a row now, the last couple of weeks, they have literally blocked the front of our restaurant," Lanius told Thomas.
Lanius fears after his wedding, he may lose the business. He says his average business lunch take has dropped by $500 a day since the sidewalk was torn up. His business is located just across the street from a MARTA station and within blocks of several midtown towers, so most customers are walk-ins.
"What can I expect? People in $300 shoes, this type of clientele in this area, to come walk down through this mess and dirty up their clothes and their shoes?" Lanius said.
Midtown Alliance President Kevin Green told Thomas he's sorry for the inconvenience, but sometimes with progress comes pain. Green calls it a difficult situation.
"The construction crews tore up a sidewalk. They found utilities underneath that we didn't know were there, which sometimes happens in Atlanta," Green said.
As for Lanius, he wants the orange cones, broken cement and dust gone before his wedding guests arrive next weekend.
"I can only hope they complete most of this by next Sunday," Lanius said.
Green told Thomas most of the work is already done and pavers should be in place before the wedding date.