Businesses struggle while Convention Center expansion closes off Pico Boulevard

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

A stretch of Pico Boulevard near the Convention Center has been closed for months as the site goes through a major expansion ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics. The construction has rerouted traffic and limited access into a busy area for the neighborhood.

While the city touts the construction as a potential job generator, it’s also a closure that has been affecting small business owners and neighbors in Pico Union.

For many businesses, there are few answers about where they fit into the plans for the Convention Center’s expansion.

Flor Osorio at Salvadoran restaurant “Taco Bravo” on Pico and Albany Street, said they’ve seen a drop in customers since Metro buses no longer stop on Pico and Figueroa Street.

Customers coming from near California Hospital Medical Center at Grand Avenue and Venice Boulevard are also no longer making the walk over.

“We used to have a lot of seniors as customers. Business has gone down significantly. But I’m not sure we can do anything about it,” Osorio said, who has been at the restaurant for 34 years and continues to work after her niece took over.

At a nearby Subway, employee Julio Vasquez has been making sandwiches in the same strip mall for the past four years and also noticed a dip in foot traffic.

Pico Boulevard, a major artery around the Los Angeles Convention Center, will remain closed through spring 2029 as the city undertakes a multi-billion project.

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Marina Peña

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The LA Local

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“There’s a lot of people not coming anymore because they don’t want to go all the way to Olympic or some other street just to get here,” he said. “By the time they’re trying to get here, they say they already found tacos or something else, so they don’t come anymore.”

Since the closure began in December, Aurora Corona, a longtime Pico Union resident, explained the road shutdown has especially impacted Metro’s 30 Bus line because it now has to detour down Union Avenue. That forces more cars and the DASH bus into a bottleneck.

“It’s a big mess. There’s congestion and a traffic jam in the morning and afternoon because of two schools’ drop-off and pick-up on Union and 11th and Union and Pico,” Corona said.

Miguel Garcia with the Pico Union Neighborhood Council encourages local businesses to advertise that they’re still open during the construction. He added there’s little a neighborhood council can do to help ailing businesses in this situation.

Representatives for the Los Angeles Convention Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the impact to local businesses.

The Los Angeles Tourism Department says the expansion is projected to create more than 15,000 jobs, generate $652 million in general tax revenue for the city over the next 30 years and bring in more than $150 million in additional visitor spending each year.

Others don’t share the same positive outlook.

City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office said it will take more than five decades for the city to truly break even on the project.

While the expansion project is estimated to cost $2.7 billion, the total cost to taxpayers will be closer to $5.9 billion with borrowing and other costs, according to Mejia’s office, who recommended the city not take on the project.

Pico Boulevard between LA Live Way and S. Figueroa Street is expected to remain closed until March 2028.

Construction crews will work throughout the week, specifically Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This will include demolition, underground utility upgrades, as well as street and sidewalk improvements, according to the project description.

Crews have demolished and cleared parts of the existing structure around the center. Foundation and grading work are set to begin along Pico Boulevard in between the West and South Halls.

Construction will temporarily pause during the 2028 Summer Olympics, then pick back up afterward, with the project expected to wrap up by spring 2029.