INDIANAPOLIS — As IndyGo continues work on the Red Line project, construction zones are increasing throughout the city. Some of these work zones, such as that of the Virginia Avenue closure from Merrill Street to Lexington Avenue in Fletcher Place, are impacting local businesses — by being right in the front yard.
Businesses, such as Milktooth, a fan-favorite brunch venue, said having a loyal customer base is key to weathering the disruption.
“Actually it’s been a really positive experience, we have an amazing loyal fan base and customer base and they’ve actually come in and said they’ll make it a point to be in here more to support you guys, which is really nice,” Zoe Taylor, the head pastry chef at Milktooth, said. "Initially, our parking lot was inaccessible for a day and a half, so that made things a little difficult and it was a little slower.”
Taylor said now that the lot is back open, there hasn’t been much trouble. She said Milktooth brought back from the menu item graveyard some favorites of the past including Korean barbecue chicken wings and honey Parmesan waffles. She said this has drawn in customers, despite the construction.
Nonetheless, she said she wishes there was more notice than roughly a month and a half prior.
“It is winter and winter in the restaurant business is a lean time, so right now, it's kind of like a double whammy,” Taylor said.
Tappers Arcade Bar credited its new expansion and addition of games to keeping operations flowing.
"People are starting to catch wind of it and the weather is starting to wind down a bit, so they're not really afraid to come out,” Adrian Bledsoe, the manager of Tappers, said.
Gamers said they didn't have too much of a problem getting there.
“It wasn't bad tonight, yeah it really wasn't bad tonight. We used an app and the app told us to go around and go over the construction and come and park,” said Chanel Short and Tyler Herbertz, who said they go to Tappers quite a bit.
However, we interviewed them on a Monday, and they said it might be different come the weekend.
"I don't know about the weekends, weekends probably would be hard," Herbertz said.
As for frustrations with the sea of orange and detours, locals like Short and Herbertz know it's just the nature of the Hoosier state.
“It is what it is. I just feel like it’s always going to be somewhere,” Short said.
This closure is expected to continue another five weeks. To get around it, northbound drivers are directed via College Avenue to Fletcher Avenue, and southbound drivers are directed via East Street to McCarty Street.
