When the work is done, the Toronto waterfront’s “main street” will be a leafy promenade where pedestrians will stroll on granite sidewalks with sweeping views of Lake Ontario.

But for now, it’s a 1.7-kilometre mess of dust and dump trucks and detours, crashing machinery and labyrinthine thoroughfares. And the construction is very nearly driving out of business some of those who make their living from the crowds that no longer want to go there.

Gary Li, 47, has run his small convenience store on Queens Quay, near Spadina Ave., for years. He’s never made a ton, but he’s made enough to get by, to support his wife and two children.

Then the work started. Waterfront Toronto, the city agency co-ordinating the three-year construction project, broke ground in the fall of 2012.

Outside Lakeview Convenience, streets are blocked off, sidewalks rerouted, people pushed away. Business has fallen 60 per cent, said Li.

“I am financially struggling because of the construction. I don’t make money,” said Li. “It’s very, very (tiring). I think they didn’t do so well to minimize the impact, the hurt, to the people around here.”

Li, who puts in 12-plus hours a day in his shop, wants to see municipal government kick in some financial aid to help businesses that face years of disruption — and losses — due to construction.

It’s an idea that’s also been proposed in other areas under heavy construction, such as Leslieville.

With the Pan Am Games coming to Toronto next year, construction crews are working full-tilt around the city in preparation. On Queen St. E. and along Eglinton Ave., on Lake Shore Blvd. and the Gardiner Expressway, there are lane closures, road closures, sidewalk closures, all taking a toll on local merchants.

Maureen Sirois, chair of the Eglinton Way Business Improvement Area, said at least one business in the nine-block stretch she represents has moved out in anticipation of years of grinding work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Work is just beginning in the Business Improvement Area that covers the neighbourhood between Oriole Parkway and Chaplin Cres. The BIA is kicking off a marketing campaign to encourage people to keep coming, despite the work that will be underway.

“We’ve given a tremendous amount of thought and energy as to how we can reduce the damage to our merchants and businesses, because there’s no question it’s going to (have an) effect,” said Sirois. “All we can try and do is reduce the damage ... It’s hard.”

Carol Jolly, the executive director of the Waterfront BIA, where Li’s shop is located, said businesses have worked closely with Waterfront Toronto to keep disruptions to a minimum. But it’s inevitable.

“It has not been easy,” said Jolly. “It has been definitely a struggle and a challenge, but also we haven’t lost sight of the fact that the Queens Quay revitalization project is a major gift to us, too.”

The $110-million project remains on schedule for completion by June 2015, said Samantha Gileno, a spokesperson for Waterfront Toronto.

Workers had to revamp the infrastructure under the street — gas lines, storm drains, hydro lines — that dated back 50-odd years before tackling the surface, replacing streetcar tracks, the road and sidewalks.

“The street is a living ecosystem; there are driveways, there are cars, there are streetcars, buses, a ferry terminal, sailboats, and there are active shops and homes and restaurants — you can’t just hoard it off and work behind it,” said Gileno. “It’s very complicated … It’s like open-heart surgery in some ways.”

Businesses are hoping the short-term pain will lead to long-term gain, drawing more crowds to the revamped Queens Quay, said Jolly.

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“It’s a major project and it’s really going to make changes for everyone down here,” said Jolly. “We’re counting on this new promenade to really change the way people embrace their waterfront. I think it’s going to be glorious down here. We’re not there yet — but we’re almost there.”

Li said he’ll try to hold on to his business until the crowds come back. He’s not sure whether he’ll make it.

“While I know how important these projects are to the city and want to see Toronto’s reputation increase, I am going through hell. I am close to losing my business,” Li wrote in an email. “For a small guy like me, this kind of loss can’t (be absorbed) for a long time. I don’t have enough money to survive.”

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