The look of Downtown Bryan is continually changing with more than $ 6 million in improvements from Main Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Street.

New businesses are migrating to Downtown Bryan despite some very apparent construction headaches

"This became available to us and we were all excited and we just knew with what revitalization that was happening that we wanted to be apart of it, said Denise Wood, a downtown business owner.

Denise Wood and her husband Jim opened The Lemon Wedge restaurant on Main Street about six months ago.

Little did they know then that construction on Main Street would soon be at their front door.

'When we had parking it was great, a lot of people came, great support, but when the street went away they gave us a boardwalk and sometimes it was hard to distinguish how you get on how you get over, but we still did ok," Wood said.

While it's hard to estimate since they've only been open a short time, Wood said business fell by more than 70 percent at one point.

At lunch hour Wednesday, they saw a steady stream of customers.

"We really had a rough time when they took out the sidewalk. We don't have a back entrance so it was really hard for our guests to get into us and so when that happened it was just a loss and we just had to ride it out, it happened for about two weeks," Wood said.

Jesus Espinoza likes what he sees with downtown's ongoing rebirth and opened up his barbershop just last week.

"Just the emphasis of the historic downtown appeals to me you know I was fortunate enough to find this little location, been a barbershop here for at least 70, 60 years you know through different barbers, it was a no-brainer," said Jesus Espinoza, owner of the Main Street Barbershop.

Espinoza is banking on better business once the improvements come to an end by spring.

"The whole atmosphere down here if people want to get a feel of the nostalgia especially people that are 55 and older it is a place to come and hang out and there's a lot of things to do and a lot of art galleries, restaurants, and small shops," Espinoza said.

"Oh I think it's gonna explode I think a lot more people are going to be willing to come down here because the parking is better and they're doing the garage and I believe the more people we have down here the better," Denise Wood said.

Short term losses, Denise Wood believes will be a thing of the past once the Main Street makeover becomes only a memory.

Phase 3 of the project which began in January is $1,525,000 under budget.

We're told Phase 4, which would include similar renovations to Bryan Avenue, is at least several years away from beginning construction.