Construction on the Ion system marked a milestone in front of Grand River Hospital on Thursday, but people living just 400 metres up King Street could be forgiven for having other things on their minds.

Residents of the Bauer Lofts building were spending a second day dealing with the effects of a broken water line caused by construction crews.

Wednesday afternoon, crews working on Caroline Street hit a temporary water line installed to keep the building fed as work took the main Caroline water line out of service.

In the Vincenzo’s grocery store, that meant an alarm started ringing, the sprinkler system went off and the store was evacuated.

“It’s hard to pull people away from eating their sandwiches to get out of the store,” said co-owner Carmine Caccioppoli.

After about an hour, the store – which has its own separate water feed – reopened.

Residents on the upper floors of the building weren’t as lucky. They remained without water into the evening.

Service was restored Wednesday night, but people living in the building were told to boil their drinking water as a precaution until samples could be tested.

Some businesses, like Thrive Energy Lab, had additional temporary water sources run into their building.

Thrive closed four hours early on Wednesday, because they weren’t able to continue operations without water.

In an interview, chef Taylor Hatkoski said that the ongoing construction has had a “huge impact” on Thrive’s business.

“It’s been a lot more of a struggle … than we originally anticipated,” she said.

Hatkoski estimates a 30 per cent drop in business at Thrive due to the construction, which has led to shift reductions and fewer hours open.

Caccioppoli says he hasn’t lost as many customers – maybe closer to 10 per cent – but thinks it will take five years for business levels in the area to return to normal.

“It’s been a total mess,” he said.

Thursday also marked the first laying of curb on King in front of Grand River Hospital.

Using a $400,000 machine, crews were able to install curbs between Union and Green streets in one day.

“It’s a very exciting step. It means that we’ve completed most of the underground work,” said Avril Fisken, community relations manager for the GrandLinq construction consortium.

The curb runs along the centre of King, and allows for the light rail track to eventually be put down.