I don't think we'll have an issue with safety but like you said, the restaurants and bars there would have to have excellent food and a very special atmosphere for us to consider going back at night.
We have our dinner habits in many other spots on the island and Orient Beach, for us, is essentially for sunbathing and meeting friends on the beach. We've never patronized any of the bars and restaurants north of Club Orient and it will probably continue this way in the future, unless, like I said, someone offers something worth going back after a day there. These new businesses will be located outside of Orient Village and I doubt they'll attract the local crowd at night. let alone people from other areas of the island but I could be wrong. Let's wait and see.

As for getting closer to completion, my next door neighbor was on the island last week and he told me last night that he heard several local people talk about completion of the construction (outside) around Dec 15.