Owners and managers at the Willow Glen Shopping Center say ongoing construction is driving away business.
Tenants say they plan to ask their landlord for help in dealing with the situation.
Fontanetti Athletic owner Jerry Fontanetti says about seven business owners met on Jan. 18, to discuss the toll the construction is taking on their bottom lines. The outcome of the meeting, he says, was that they would ask the center's owner, Joe Kovalik, for a 20 percent reduction in rent during the construction period. It looks like a lumber yard out front. But Kovalik says the renovation is the only way the center on the corner of Almaden Road and Curtner Avenue can transition into the upgraded Willow Glen Plaza with facade improvements and new chain stores. Fontanetti adds that if Kovalik isn't flexible with the stores, they could refuse to pay rent, at all.