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Dundas Street business owners and residents gathered at @BluDuby Restaurant to meet with City staff, @DowntownLondon, the contractor and members of the extended project team to connect before construction starts on Dundas Place. Watch the video recap! #LdnOnt pic.twitter.com/srkaFnECiR — DundasPlace (@DundasPlace) April 10, 2018

But Milani said she has been forced to close due to a combination of other factors. She said she is very busy in her job as vice-president of sales for Mobials Inc, a fast-growing software company, and is also a single mom raising two young children.

Milani said sales were good at the downtown Blu Duby but the increase in provincial minimum wage put more financial stress on the business.

Milani continues to operate a second location, Blu Duby North, at 745 Fanshawe Park Road N. It opened in December 2016. She said that location is easier to manage because it’s smaller, closer to her home and isn’t open late.

She said all 17 staff from the downtown Blu Duby have managed to find other jobs.

Milani said the downtown Blu Duby is a large space with a lot of potential and she hopes it will be taken over by a energetic entrepreneur.

“(It’s) a huge venue which does a lot of corporate high-volume business. It is a gem.”

Downtown London manager Janette MacDonald said she is confident the location will bounce back.

“We are sorry to see Blu Duby go, but we anticipate we’re going to get another great restaurant in its place because of the flex street and proximity to Bud Gardens,” MacDonald said.

Although vehicle traffic along the west end of Dundas has been disrupted by the construction, she said the area is still open to pedestrians and maps are posted to assist them.

But others restaurant owners have complained they have been sidedswiped by the flex street project. Thomas Sandick, owner of Gourmet Deli on King Street, just east of Wellington Street, said his morning business has shrunk after three curbside parking spaces were removed due to a construction-related change in bus routes and bus stops.

A “flex street” essentially turns a street into a public place, where pedestrians are the top priority over vehicles. It will run from the river to Wellington Street. There are no curbs. They’re replaced by poles that can be moved to essentially create sidewalks during periods when vehicles are allowed, or wide-open pedestrian spaces at car-free times.

The four-block stretch — to be renamed Dundas Place — will be managed like a public venue with performers and events booked to enliven it during no-car periods.

hdaniszewski@postmedia.com

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