Preston Street is slowly re-opening for business, but some sections are still closed.
In early December, Luigi will finally be able to stop saying, “Excusa the mess!”
Little Italy’s cartoon mascot, whose mustachioed smile adorns several signs along and around Preston Street, has been informing visitors to the neighbourhood there’s still a vibrant street under the dust and debris of reconstruction that has paralyzed the road for months.
The Preston Street Business Improvement Area has used Luigi on posters and in contests aimed at keeping customers coming to stores and restaurants along Corso Italia.
Lori Mellor, executive director of the BIA, says the imminent completion of the project – an overhaul of Preston’s sewage system and watermains, streetscaping and a new road surface – has come just in time.
“We could not stand another year of construction,” she says. “I would definitely be losing a lot of businesses.”
Mellor says the Ottawa transit strike, initial reconstruction a year ago and the current roadwork have hit Preston businesses hard.
Mellor says she lost seven businesses during the first year of construction.
Marino Nicoletta, manager at Preston’s Ciccio Caffe, says the restaurant has been around for 35 years, but estimates profits were down 50 per cent as a result of the construction.
He says other restaurants along the street have suffered more, and many have had to cancel lunch service because people were going elsewhere.
“I don’t blame them,” says Nicoletta. “Only time will tell whether the clientele will come back.”
Nevertheless, he maintains the water and sewage work was necessary and the revitalization efforts will eventually be good for business.
Nicoletta also made use of a time when customer traffic was already down to renovate the restaurant.
There has been, however, some concern along the street about the cost of the BIA's Luigi advertising campaign.
Some have suggested the money might have been better spent softening the financial blow for merchants by offsetting rent, hydro costs or other regular expenses.
Mellor says the campaign, which cost around $50,000 and was supplemented with $8,000 from the city, was instrumental in letting people know businesses were still open despite road closures.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes says she thinks the Luigi signs may have been too amusing to get the point across.
“Many of them were stolen,” she says. “Maybe that’s the lesson. Don’t be charming.”
Despite misgivings over Luigi’s contribution to Preston’s revitalization effort, Mellor says everyone on the street is relieved and excited as the project nears completion.