DETROIT (WXYZ) — As construction continues in Detroit's Greektown to revitalize four blocks of the neighborhood to make them more pedestrian friendly, some businesses say foot traffic has slowed down and they want to remind residents they are open despite the orange barrels and fencing.
Watch the video report below:
The Greektown Monroe Streetscape project is officially underway to transform the district into a more engaging public space including having pedestrian zones, human-scale landscaping, enhanced lighting for visibility and safety measures.
The project is expected to take another year to complete with a tentative opening date of summer 2026.
“Don’t mind the big fences, don’t mind the orange barrels — that’s always a deterrent," Greektown business owner Yanni Dionisopoulos said.
Dionisopoulos is active with the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership that's spearheading the project. He says these changes have been a long time coming and when the opportunity came about to receive $20 million in state funding due to a budget surplus, they knew they needed to act fast.
"The vision’s been always there, the funding not and then obviously when the funding was announced yes, we had our own little party," Dionisopoulos said.
However, with the exciting new changes comes construction, which includes street closures, large fencing and orange barrels that may make it seem like the businesses on Monroe Street are closed. Dionisopoulos and other business owners want to make it clear, they're open and need the community's support.
See more rendering in the video player below:
“This is an effort to put the message out that we’re still here, yes we’re open for business, yes there’s disruptions, but there’s always available parking," Dionisopoulos said. "We do need your support as we have the last 100-plus years. Come stop by. Our plates are always full.”
To get this message out loud and clear, the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership is launching a pub crawl, wine stroll and a district-wide happy hour, to entice more people to come down.
“We’ve had difficulty with the construction, obviously. A lot of people think we are closed, but we are open for business," owner of the Golden Fleece and Mati Spero Dionysopoulos said.
Many residents say it will take more than just a little dust and noise to keep them away because come next summer, they say all of it will be well worth it.
“Whether it’s construction or not, we’re gonna come on down and just see what’s going on," Detroit resident Tiffany Gatewood said. “It’s just the spirit of Detroit that keep us down here.”
