With San Diego Pride roughly two weeks away, businesses and residents in Hillcrest say they’re growing increasingly frustrated as construction on the long-awaited Pride Promenade continues with no clear end in sight. The nearly $28 million project is transforming Normal Street into a pedestrian -friendly promenade surrounding Hillcrest’s iconic Pride Flag. Construction began in January 2025 and was originally expected to take about 18 months, with work wrapping up in time for this year’s Pride celebrations. Now, city officials say the earliest anticipated completion date is September, leaving many who live and work along Normal Street wondering how much longer they’ll have to wait. For Fernando Mesto, who has lived on Normal Street for the past six years, the project has become part of his daily routine — whether he likes it or not. “It is affecting my sleep,” Mesto said. “I wake up at six in the morning every day to put in earplugs. It’s just automatic now for me.” He said the near-constant construction noise has taken a toll. “It’s just this constant floor drilling. It’s just out of control, really,” he said. Mesto said he received emails suggesting construction would be finished before Pride but doesn’t believe that’s realistic. “They said something about [there’s] supposed to be [a] deadline for Pride, but I don’t see it happening,” he said. Despite his frustrations, Mesto said he’s looking forward to one simple milestone. “I just can’t wait until they open the street so we can just be able to walk across the street,” he said. Businesses report steep losses Businesses along Normal Street say the prolonged construction has dramatically reduced customer traffic. At Mostra Coffee, Area Manager Titus Sowe said sales have fallen sharply since construction began. “Our lowest numbers are like $300, $400 in revenue a day,” Sowe said. “We used to do like $3,000 a day.” He said dust, road closures and limited access have made it difficult to stay open and adequately staff the café. “Depending on if it’s a day where they’re moving dirt or breaking concrete up, there would just be clouds of dust and we’d have to close the doors,” Sowe said. The drop in revenue has also affected staffing. “Not being able to have a location fully staffed is really hard,” he said. Sowe said the business once benefited from commuters traveling along Normal Street. “The highway’s right over there, so we’d get a ton of people coming through, stopping in, grabbing their coffee and cruising on to their job,” he said. “Not anymore.” Although the city now estimates construction could finish as early as September, Sowe worries it could take even longer. “I’m honestly worried that it’s not going to be done until next year,” he said. Just down the street at Salon Symmetry, contractor Erran Andrews said he’s also seen business decline significantly. “I have probably 15 clients now. I had about 40,” Andrews said. He has since taken on a second job to compensate for that loss. “Now I’m working two jobs,” Andrews said. “I’m working a second job just to kind of make ends meet.” When asked whether the construction was directly responsible for losing clients, Andrews didn’t hesitate. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Because even people that I’ve worked with have lost clients.” One of the salon owners, who declined an on-camera interview, told NBC 7 the construction has cost the business thousands of dollars in lost revenue because fewer customers are visiting the area. Hope remains for the finished project Despite months of disruptions, many residents and business owners said they still believe the completed Pride Promenade will ultimately benefit Hillcrest. “I think it’s going to look really beautiful,” Andrews said. “But a lot of businesses have suffered because it took up all of our parking.” Sowe agreed. “Normal Street has needed a makeover for a long time,” he said. He said he understands the project will eventually create a more vibrant neighborhood gathering place. “There’s a lot of hope, and it’d be really cool to be a part of it,” Sowe said. “I just really want it to happen.” The city of San Diego referred NBC 7 to a statement from Mayor Todd Gloria from back in May, regarding some of the questions over funding and more details about the overall project. NBC 7 also reached out to the Hillcrest Business Association, San Diego Pride and SANDAG for comment on the project’s delays but had not received responses by publication. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less