Four months after the cessation of roadworks along the St. Mary's Strip, local businesses continue to face a downturn in trade. While the construction equipment is long gone, so, it seems, are the customers who once frequented this once-bustling corridor of San Antonio. The improved street features - such as wider sidewalks and new bike lanes - have yet to bring the anticipated revival of foot traffic. Amador Montoya, General Manager at El Milagrito, a restaurant with more than a half-century legacy on the St. Mary's Strip, now finds his business struggling to attract customers due to the reduced availability of parking. "It's sad but I guess we have to close because we're doing basically half of what we used to do already, and your customers are not confident that they're not going to get a ticket if they park around here. It's hard for us," Montoya told FOX San Antonio.
The issue seems to have deeply to upset not only the business owners but also the local residents. Homeowners in adjoining neighborhoods have voiced concerns over driveways being blocked and the litter resulting from strip-goers parking on residential streets. The San Antonio Public Works department confirms that some street parking was indeed surrendered to accommodate bike lanes and widen sidewalks, with other spaces being reassigned for commercial and rideshare use. Bailey Mendoza, a patron of the strip, now opts to visit during the day, when she's found it's "less of a crowd and parking is a lot more easier," she recalled to FOX San Antonio, indicating a shifted pattern in consumer behavior.
Misconceptions about lingering detours persist among the public, as Malcolm Hartman, co-owner of Tycoon Flats, underscores. “Everybody I talk to they just go, ‘Oh, the construction is done on North St. Mary’s?’ Why would they want to come down here and mess with those detours again,” Hartman shared with KSAT. Despite a now seamless drive along the strip, businesses like Candlelight Pourhouse are failing to witness the return of their clientele. Owner Tammy Russell, lamenting the quietness that has befallen the area, worries about the sustainability of her establishment. "If it does not get busy, we're probably looking at six months to a week," Russell expressed in a statement to KSAT.
The prolonged construction, originally destined to finish by October 2022 but extending until September 2023 due to contractor errors and unforeseen weather impediments, occurred also to coincide with the shuttering of businesses. Aaron Pena, who was forced to close the Squeezebox bar last year, put forth bluntly the cascading effect of these developments. “I might have been the first domino to fall, but now we see El Ojo, which is closing in a few short weeks,” Pena related to KSAT. Both proprietors and patrons alike yearn for a resurgence of the Strip’s vibrant atmosphere, with calls to the community not to forget about this iconic sector of the city. "Don't forget about us. Come down here and check it out,” Hartman urged in an interview with KSAT, encapsulating a plea for support from a district adorned with improvements yet absent of its soul – the customers.
