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As Atlanta prepares for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, city leaders are working to spruce up Midtown and downtown with new construction projects — but some business owners say the work is driving customers away.
Ayman Kamel, owner of popular restaurants 5Church Midtown, 5Church Buckhead, and Alta Toro, said while he loves his work, the growing traffic problems are taking a toll on business.
“I wake up, and I love coming in here to do what I do best,” Kamel said. “This is what I love, and this is what I know how to do for a living.”
But lately, he said, traffic has become “an absolute nightmare.”
“To come out of your house and have the hope to get to work on time — you have to factor an extra 15 minutes to an hour,” Kamel said.
He blames ongoing highway construction and multiple street closures throughout Midtown for cutting into restaurant revenue.
“People are calling to either cancel reservations or to say we are going to be late because traffic is bad,” Kamel said.
Cancellations and delays, he added, create a domino effect that hurts sales and the customer experience.
“Nobody is enjoying the experience, and that’s going to impact the business in the long run,” he said.
Kamel recently took to Instagram to urge city leaders to take action before local restaurants are forced to make difficult financial decisions.
“It’s extremely frustrating and concerning because the landlord is not going to say, ‘Don’t worry about it, the traffic is bad,’” Kamel said. “There are expenses and people relying on our guests to come. This is my neighborhood, and I want this to be the best neighborhood in the world.”
The Midtown Alliance responded to FOX 5 with a statement addressing the construction, saying the projects are designed to improve safety.
“The projects Midtown Alliance coordinates with the Atlanta Department of Transportation focus on improving safety,” the statement read. “The improvements on Juniper Street — expected to be substantially complete by the end of the year — address safety gaps on a one-mile corridor that experienced 569 crashes involving motorists, pedestrians and cyclists over the five years prior to construction.”
