Business owners in the Perth Cultural Centre say they have been left stressed and confused by delays to a $35 million redevelopment of the precinct.
Owners of three hospitality venues were ordered to vacate their premises to make way for construction in early October, but work has not yet begun in the area.
The rejuvenation of the area is part of the $1.5 billion Perth City Deal, with the federal government chipping in $10 million and a state government contribution of $25 million.
The project will include a new "heart" or focal point, removing an amphitheatre to create a shaded connection between James and Beaufort streets and series of gardens.
Livingstone's cafe owner Ron Yong, who has since vacated, said he was disappointed to have missed out on school holiday, Christmas and Fringe World Festival foot traffic.
"[If I had known] I would have stayed longer look for suitable place near cultural centre as all our customers are from the area," he said.
He said he thought he was "rushed out" and the delays disregarded small business owners in the area.
"[There are] no feelings about people's income or lives," he said.
Owner of popular Pretzel takeaway venue Brittany Garbutt said she had negotiated to stay in the cultural centre until construction works began and had been given an extension until the end of March.
"Currently, there's no indication of when the works will begin, it's just an estimation," she said.
"Clearly, our goal is to remain as long as possible. Getting drip-fed information and trying to figure out where we're going to go to next is extremely stressful."
Ms Garbutt said while her business was reasonably mobile because it operated from a converted shipping container, she wanted to stay in the flagship cultural centre venue for as long as she could continue trading before construction works began.
"Fringe Festival and Christmas are two of our biggest income periods, so we thought do we try and hedge our bets that we're going to get to stay and just rely on pretty much nothing but a hunch that it [construction] wasn't going to go forward," she said.
"My landlords don't know what's going on, it doesn't seem like the development team knows what's going on.
"We're all kind of just in the same place of waiting for new information, and then when we get that information have to deal with the consequences."
Construction market issues
A state government spokesperson said an announcement about the cultural centre redevelopment would be made in the coming months, following consideration of "construction market issues" and alterations to the design.
The spokesperson also confirmed a popular urban wetland constructed in 2010 would be removed and not rebuilt in phase one of the redevelopment.
The state government previously told the ABC the wetland cost a significant amount to maintain due to a leak and would be converted into a thoroughfare to link Beaufort Street with the cultural centre.
Community petitions to retain wetland
Developed in 2010, the Urban Wetland project transformed a chlorinated water feature to the north side of the art gallery into a biodiverse, interactive wetland.
In November a petition with more than 300 signatures calling on the state government to "protect" the wetland was tabled in WA Parliament.
Two community rallies were also organised at the wetland by a group of city workers and students.
Ecologist Mandy Bamford, who helped release fauna in the wetland, said the state government should investigate repairing the leak rather than having to relocate flora and fauna such and birds, frogs and lizards.
"Fingers crossed, we can come up with a really innovative solution that saves the wetland or at least has wetlands in the plan for the future and we put a walkway over [the top of] it or something," she said.
"The main thing about a wetland like this in the city is that it contributes so much to human physical and mental health, quite apart from it being a wonderful gem of biodiversity for city animals.
"It is a little patch of peace and tranquillity in a busy day in the city."