Mount Pleasant restaurants on the brink as Broadway construction drags on

Ron MacGillivray, owner of Fable Diner, says he has seen about a 50 percent drop in business ever since construction on the Broadway Subway Project has blocked off the stretch between Main and Quebec streets on Broadway. The restaurant, which opened in 2016 (after the glowing success of Kitsilano’s Fable Kitchen, which opened in 2012), made hay serving elevated diner fare.

These days, the restaurant is seeing about half of its usual clientele—and that’s not because folks are losing interest in eating there.

It’s because—like many other businesses on that stretch—access to the area has been severely impeded by ongoing construction that seemingly doesn’t have an end date.

Construction on Broadway to create a Mount Pleasant SkyTrain stop (part of TransLink’s new six-stop underground Broadway Subway Project) began in 2020, disrupting usual foot traffic through bus rerouting and street closures, which—on top of the effect of COVID closures—impacted sales.

“All those buses were rerouted and gone and then they started closing the street, and then it was and then it just kind of ramped up from there,” says  MacGillivray, who says he’s seen dwindling guest count year-over-year.

“It was almost two and a half years of barricades up and full closure, and [the alley has] been closed for about five years now.”

But MacGillivray and his fellow business owners in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood held on to hope, with construction in the area slated to complete at the end of 2025. Instead, an extension into 2027 was granted, with a four-month total closure of the block kicking off earlier this year.

“There’s certain days where it’s a lot tougher and certain days where it’s like, ‘How am I going to get through the next day or the next week?’” says MacGillivray. “I’m just kind of surviving, [and trying] not [to go] bankrupt. The uncertainty is not knowing when we can move forward.”

And he’s not alone.

Neil Wyles, executive director of Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association (BIA), has seen much of his membership suffering because of the construction.

“I think at some point we had 125-plus business licenses in our little strip from Alberta to Main Street. Now, I think we’re down to 60,” he says, which includes not just diners and eateries like Fable, but music schools, bike shops and optometrists.

“We devastate these businesses and there’s a long term impact that follows them. If you’ve taken out a second mortgage on your house and then the business closes, those things don’t disappear. You carry those obligations until they’re paid off,” Wyles says, noting that the BIA has stepped in to help those businesses with $150,000 in individual $5,000 grants.

The thing is—he says—is that $5,000 is not going to address all the problems facing businesses being crushed by the construction. It won’t help those like MacGillivray, who made the decision to sell his house to keep supporting the business through its changing seasons.

“Sure, we should be saving for a rainy day,” says Wyles, “but not seven years of rainy days. Nobody saves for seven years of rainy days.”

Abdallah El Chami, owner and chef of Superbaba, has also taken on the issue. While the Main Street Middle Eastern eatery doesn’t depend as much on diners sitting and eating—the spot caters more to grab-and-go customers—he’s feeling frustrated by the lack of movement happening in the neighbourhood that his business calls home.

“I’m just not interested in waiting until it’s dire,” says El Chami. “The bigger problem is that they said four months, and I don’t believe them because… you look into the pit where people are working and [there’s] one person working and four people on their cellphones. So, visually, you’re not even seeing the work being done efficiently.”

 

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And that’s where Wyles takes issue, too.

“For the government, this is a Monday to Friday, seven-to-three project. If this is so dire and it’s such an emergency, how about running two shifts?” he says. “I [couldn’t] care less if you’re running that shift 24/7. It’s underground. There are more than eight hours in a day.”

Formerly the chef and owner of Yaletown’s Hamilton Street Grill, Wyles understands the passion and sacrifice that goes into providing a service to the community—and he fears that community is now being crushed by a lack of access to the area and its businesses. So, too, does El Chami.

“My goal right now is to push on the government because, honestly, their message is that [they’ll] sacrifice this community and all the jobs in it, because [they] need to get infrastructure built and [they’re] not interested in paying more for it,” says El Chami. 

Currently, the Broadway Subway Project—which includes six new underground SkyTrain stations—is expected to be completed sometime in 2027.