DENVER -- Get ready for another year and a half of construction along South Broadway in Denver. Phase II of the rehabilitation project kicked off Monday.

Phase II runs from Wesley Avenue south to Yale Avenue. The three-block stretch of Broadway Street will be a cone zone for about the next year.

Phase I is farther north on South Broadway closer to the Gates project. It was from Iowa Avenue to Arizona Avenue. It has been completed.

"I love this," said Bob Crayne, owner of Antique Exchange. "I can't even tell you how much I love this."

Crayne may be crazy about the renovations, but he is even more excited that the portion of Broadway that runs in front of his store was part of the first phase and is over.

"People down here are so much happier," Crayne said. "I love it. Just getting from this side of the street to that side of the street is so much easier right now and it looks wonderful."

The project is far from over. Two more phases must be done for the project to be completed.

"Broadway is a beat up street and it needed new life and new time," said Henrik Follin, owner of Scandinavian Antiques and More.

For 18 years, Follin's antique store has been on Broadway. He has seen a lot of changes and not all of them for the better he said.

His wife, Mary, said the construction process has been tough.

"It does slow down business and any shop owner these days wants to generate business and not lose business," said Mary Follin.

Scandinavian Antiques and More is part of the third phase of the project, although north of Phase II and south of Phase I.

Christine Downs with Denver Public Works said the second phase is being done on the most southern part of South Broadway in Denver because the federal government provided the money for that portion of the project next.

The second phase costs $6.5 million.

"It is definitely an upgrade and is well needed," said Mary Follin.

Downs said the money comes from the federal government, the city's Capitol Improvement Project and bonds from the Better Denver Bond of 2007. Downs said the money cannot be used for any other purpose.

Phase II should be completed in about a year. The entire project will be done by the winter of 2012.

Work on the second phase will take place from about 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to avoid rush hour traffic.