If you want a taco or some groceries from La Fiesta Produce Market, you'll have to follow a detour down Earl Avenue and enter through the store's back
Since construction on Phase II of the project began on his doorstep, owner Adan Perez said business has dropped 50 percent, and he's had to lay off two workers.
"I have no business," Perez said. "People don't want to come here because the street is bad.
"What are you gonna do?" he shrugged.
Measuring his losses in terms of produce, Perez said, "I used to sell five cartons of tomatoes a week, now I sell one."
Most of the produce is thrown in the trash these days, Perez said. People just aren't visiting his store, or the taqueria in the back.
Perez's story is common among other Greater Lafayette businesses weathering a storm of construction, including:
• The Restore Sagamore project, which spans several miles and is operating on a five-year timeline.
• The corner of State Street and River Road, which is buried in construction for West Lafayette's combined sewer overflow project along River Road until May 2017. Soon, construction for the State Street revitalization project will commence in that area, too.
• Lafayette's Main Street streetscape project, which is expected to continue into fall 2017.