Olympia to celebrate end of Franklin St. renovation -- and the hardship it created

The city of Olympia and Olympia Downtown Alliance will host a public End of the Construction celebration on Saturday to mark the end of more than a year of renovation work on Franklin Street from Legion Way to State Avenue.

But downtown visitors won’t be the only ones celebrating. Due to blocked off sidewalks and detour signs, the $3.4 million construction project had a big impact on Franklin Street businesses. With the sidewalks and streets torn up, many people were unable to access stores and eateries, which led to financial struggles for businesses.

One severely impacted store is Underhill Plants, a plant shop that was located at Franklin and Fourth during much of the construction.

Owner Alden Davis said that the construction added more reasons for him to relocate his shop, which is now on Washington Street, between Fourth and State. Davis said that the Franklin Street location was completely blocked off by fencing, obscuring Underhill Plants from any line of sight and making it difficult for customers to find their way in.

“After the fencing was put up, there were days where we didn’t have one customer come in,” Davis said. “We relied heavily on repeat customers and those who followed our social media.”

Franklin Street Project Manager Jeff Johnstone said he and his team tried to minimize impact on businesses, but maintaining accessibility was the project’s largest obstacle. Johnstone said the city included in its contract specifications that pedestrian access was to be maintained at all times, and they tried to work around the schedules of the businesses in the area.

“When we were doing work on the doorsteps, the city and contractor would reach out to the businesses to figure out the best times,” Johnstone said. “Some of the businesses aren’t open seven days a week, so if you were closed on Monday or Tuesday, those would be the days we would schedule to remove the sidewalk or pour the sidewalk back.”

But Davis said businesses needed to give up access to their stores for 72 hours when concrete was poured, and most of the time there was no warning or communication. He also said most of the construction coincided, and therefore, exacerbated the issues of accessibility: the combination of putting up fencing, demolishing sidewalks and placing confusing signs along the roads made it even more difficult to reach customers.

Johnstone said the Olympia Downtown Alliance made efforts to notify the public through social media about businesses on Franklin Street to help stores. The goal was to encourage customers to still visit the businesses despite the construction.

However, David said none of the Olympia Downtown Alliance budget for advertising went directly to the stores.

“It wasn’t the direct help we actually needed,” he said.

Accessibility wasn’t the only issue Underhill Plants faced.

Davis said construction shook the building at the old location, producing ceiling leaks. He also said that construction workers removed area trees during the heatwave last summer, further hurting business since the trees had protected the building from overheating. Without them, Davis said the store had to close down due to the fact that there was no air conditioning, making it impossible to safely work.

As part of the Downtown Strategy, the project’s goal was to make Franklin Street more pedestrian friendly. The project created around 1,500 feet of sidewalk and adding curb extensions. Johnstone said the project created 20 planting areas, street lighting and pedestrian lighting, added 24 new trees and five bike racks.

Public art such as granite bands and artistic panels in the sidewalks were also added for beautification.

However, Davis said that the beautification of Franklin Street came at a cost to his business and others.

“Telling us [construction] is for our benefit, but then not communicating with us or taking the businesses’ needs into account — it felt like opposing messages,” he said.

Davis also said that he had only learned about the End of Construction celebration through a store on Franklin. Due to the business relocating, they had not been notified that there would be a celebration occurring. He did, however, say that he hoped the celebration would provide opportunities for businesses on Franklin Street to gain visitors.

Johnstone said he recognized that most businesses on Franklin Street were negatively impacted by the construction, but that he and his team had tried to make the long process as painless as possible.

“We recognize that construction is impactful to not only the people trying to drive and commute through the area,” he said, “but these people who had to deal with construction on and off for a year.”

The End of the Construction Celebration will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 11, at Franklin Street and Fourth Avenue.

The Olympia Downtown Alliance will have face painting, jugglers and other roving entertainers, as well as a dump truck and backhoe on-site for an up-close look at heavy machinery. Project managers will be available to answer questions as well.

This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 11:18 AM.