‘How are we going to survive?’: Downtown Silver Spring businesses suffer from Purple Line construction

“How are we going to survive?”

Eden Negussie says she can’t help but wonder about the future of her business, Café Via Roma, as she gazes at the tall, black fabric-covered metal fences towering just feet away from the Bonifant Street eatery she opened in September in downtown Silver Spring.

The fences aim to block out the view of the equipment, metal tubes, poles, orange barriers and traffic signs at a construction site for an upcoming station for the light-rail Purple Line at the Silver Spring Library. But for those passing by, the fences also block the view into the businesses that sit behind the construction zone including Café Via Roma, Edible Arrangements, Salon Zoma and Sunshine Smiles Dental Care.

Though Café Via Roma’s green, white and red sign with the shop’s name on the awning – a nod to Negussie’s Italian heritage and the café’s inspiration – is just visible above the fencing, Negussie said her business is “suffering” because pedestrians can’t see inside or even figure out how to access the café.

“It’s been very hard. I’m not getting any customers,” Negussie, who co-owns the business, said in early January. Recently the café received its liquor license, according to Negussie, and added an bar and dinner experience.

With more than two years left until the expected completion of the Purple Line, Negussie is not sure if her business – the realization of a long-held dream — will survive. While she has received a $5,000 county-administered Purple Line grant to help the business, she said it was not enough to pay employees and rent.

When completed, the 16-mile light-rail Purple Line will run from Bethesda to New Carrollton and connect riders to the Metro’s Red, Green and Orange lines as well as to MARC and Amtrak trains and bus services. Construction of the line and its 21 stations by a public-private partnership has faced numerous delays and cost increases since the project’s inception in 2016.

One of the latest cost increases involves construction of a mezzanine at the Bethesda Metro station that would connect a Purple Line station to the Red Line station. The project’s cost has increased 20-fold from an initial estimate of $2.4 million, The Washington Post reported Dec. 30. In December a $52 million contract to build the mezzanine was announced.

State transportation officials expect the Purple Line will be open for service in late 2027. This summer the first Purple Line railcars arrived in Prince Georges County. As of late December, Purple Line officials said the project is more than 73% complete.

To help local businesses, Montgomery County has offered three rounds of $5,000 grants targeting small, independently owned and operated businesses along the Purple Line construction route. Applications for the last round of the grants closed in September 2023 and the county has not announced a fourth round of grants.

More than 20 Bonifant Street businesses have received the county-administered grants, according to Kathryn Lamb, a Maryland Transit Administration spokesperson. The transit administration owns the Purple Line and oversees the public-private partnership building and operating the Purple Line.

“The Purple Line recognizes the disruption construction can create within both residential and commercial areas,” Lamb said in an email statement to Bethesda Today in late December.

The Purple Line team has undertaken other efforts to boost businesses affected by the construction, including several on Bonifant Street, by promoting them in a monthly newsletter and on social media, Lamb said. In addition, the Purple Line website has a business directory that highlights more than 800 business along the construction route.

The Purple Line team also has installed large banners and signs in construction areas with “directional messaging” to promote affected businesses. Signs for individual businesses have also been produced and installed in storefront windows and on sidewalks, she said.

Meanwhile, the project’s “business engagement officer conducts daily safety walks to ensure pedestrian and business owner/employee access to Bonifant businesses,” according to Lamb.

Lamb did not provide an estimated timeline for completion of the construction on Bonifant Street.

‘Are you guys open?’

Café Via Roma isn’t the only business hurting from the ongoing construction that has torn up Bonifant Street and removed on-street parking so that tracks can be installed for the Purple Line. Other local businesses on the street such as Sweet Sweet Kitchen, a small fast-casual Caribbean and West African chain at 904 Bonifant St., and restaurant Kook Kai’s Thai Noodles, told Bethesda Today in late December that business is slow, and customers are confused about whether they are open.

“With the construction, it slows down a little bit … a lot,” Suzette Williams, manager at Sweet Sweet Kitchen, told Bethesda Today in late December while referring to customer traffic. “Sometimes the customer, they want to come but the road is blocked, they don’t have nowhere to go. They will call us and say ‘I can’t find Sweet Sweet Kitchen.’ ”

Sales at the business, which opened in 2021, also have seen a drop in recent months, Williams said. Despite signage created by the Purple Line team that hangs on the restaurant’s façade to let passersby know it is open, Williams still worries about losing out on new customers who may not know how to navigate the roadways around the restaurant.

However, she is optimistic Sweet Sweet Kitchen will push through until the light-rail line opens, even in the face of continued construction.

“We have clientele. They know about us,” Williams said, noting the restaurant also promotes its food on social media apps such as Instagram. “Every day we get phone calls, ‘Are you guys open?’ ”

Similarly, Wirachai Maliwan, owner of Kook Kai’s Thai Noodles, is trying to stay optimistic through the construction. In late December, Maliwan told Bethesda Today that he is waiting for the day the Purple Line – which will run in front of his restaurant at 939 Bonifant St. – opens, increasing Kook Kai’s visibility to riders.

“I hope my business increases because I think [there is a] good view from the Purple Line so many people can see my restaurant,” Maliwan said.

He also noted the construction work further impacted his business when a stretch of sidewalk running past the restaurant was closed in November and he was unable to enter through the front entrance.

“Some days I was closed because somebody cannot enter the restaurant,” Maliwan said, noting that he would enter through a back door.

‘A war zone’

Stephanie Helsing, president and CEO of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, told Bethesda Today in late December that the area of Bonifant Street under construction looks like a “war zone.”

“I find it hard to believe that this level of chaos and disruption would be tolerated anywhere else in the county,” Helsing said. She noted that businesses are bearing the brunt of the construction due to the lack of street parking and the changing traffic patterns. Currently, Bonifant Street is a one-way street with an entrance at Georgia Avenue. There is also a long-term closure on Bonifant Street West between Ramsey and Georgia avenues.

Helsing said the chamber has heard from many businesses in the Silver Spring Central Business District whose owners are feeling “depressed and frustrated” by the construction.

“There’s a lot of anxiety about what’s going to come next and if they’re going to survive until this is completed,” Helsing said. “They are stressed out about the constant chaos and construction around them; they’re frustrated by the pace at which the construction has been completed, and, you know, I think that they’re just depressed about the overall look and feel of the area that they’ve been running their business in.”

Helsing noted the Purple Line construction is also impacting businesses near the Spring Street bridge, which has been closed since June, altering the traffic pattern for drivers in the area aiming to enter or exit the downtown Silver Spring area. The bridge is expected to reopen this spring, according to a Purple Line project construction update.

“Ease of travel is something that has been significantly impacted by this ongoing construction,” Helsing said. “Some of our anxiety is that it’s going to eventually be so difficult to get in and around downtown Silver Spring that people are going to stop coming. And then what do we do?”

County Executive Marc Elrich (D) is also frustrated about the light-rail construction’s impact on county businesses and roads.

In a weekly media briefing with reporters in late December, Elrich said the county would likely consider giving out more grants to businesses impacted by the construction.

“Folks who are there are harmed. This is all the state’s doing,” Elrich said. “This is [former Republican] Gov. [Larry] Hogan’s puppy, and it’s become incredibly expensive and incredibly poorly managed.”

Elrich clarified further that he believes the state should be “primarily responsible” for providing financial support.

“Their inability to manage the contractors from the beginning has kind of put us in this hole. So hopefully we’ll get more help out to these businesses,” he said. “They should not be suffering, and they shouldn’t be forced out of business because it’s something the government did.”

Shop local

According to Helsing, downtown Silver Spring is home to many small and family-owned businesses, some that have been in the community for decades. She said county residents can help them survive by continuing to shop and eat locally.

“Just keep coming. Don’t get discouraged. Fight a good fight with us,” Helsing said.

The chamber has been working to help affected businesses by collaborating with the County Council; the Silver Spring Regional Services Center, which acts as a liaison between the county and its residents and businesses; and the Silver Spring Urban District, an organization that supports the area’s central business district. Some of the collaborative efforts include assisting the businesses with grants and promoting messaging around shopping locally during the construction.

Some community members have undertaken their own efforts to promote and support local businesses. In December, county resident David Schneider shared his experiences visiting Bonifant Street businesses as well as accounts from employees and owners about the construction’s impacts in daily posts to the “Good News Silver Spring” Facebook group.

From buying hair cream at Rita’s Hair Salon for a Hanukkah present and relaxing in a sauna at Daje Wellness & Spa to grabbing takeout at Mandalay Restaurant and a Cameroonian lunch at Roger Miller Restaurant, Schneider said he aimed to promote the businesses and to call upon the county to do more to help affected Bonifant Street businesses and other merchants.

“I figured someone should do something so I took matters into my own hands and became a kind vigilante philanthropist and booster,” Schneider wrote in his Day 28 post. “But action by the county is more sustainable and would reach more people.”

Schneider did not respond to Bethesda Today’s attempts to contact him.

Helsing said the chamber also is focused on ensuring that funding aimed at supporting businesses in the construction zones makes it into the hands of the affected businesses.

“We know for a fact that businesses have been impacted negatively and that their pocketbooks are hurting,” Helsing said. “All we can do is continue to push for the funding to get to them and cross our fingers and hope that they can survive until 2027 when the Purple Line is finally open and hope that people will come back to downtown Silver Spring once the chaos is complete.”