The Burnside Blog
Old Town Uwajimaya Inching Closer To Reality
Other than two exceptions, my life is largely big-box retail free. While I can buy just about everything I need within ten blocks of my downtown home, I have been known to rent a car to visit Ikea or the large Asian supermarkets, which all happen to be located in outer trenches of East Portland or in suburbs like Beaverton and Tigard.
In terms of product selection and freshness, Beaverton’s Uwajimaya is the best of them all, and I was happy to learn in yesterday’s Oregonian that the Seattle-area retailer is closer to landing a store in Portland’s most iconic neighborhood, Old Town. Laura Gunderson reports that the Portland City Council has earmarked $10 million in city-backed loans for the project, a 40,000-square foot store capped by 140 units of low-income housing and possibly a restaurant in what’s currently a surface parking lot between Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Streets Davis and Couch. This development would give Old Town what it most needs: a reason for people to go there.
I’ve written about this proposed development several times on this site, and I’m happy to see some momentum. Willamette Week’s culture editor and wordsmith Kelly Clarke and Cuisine Bonne Femme at Portland Food and Drink both reported last week that the project was sailing through the PDC’s sea of bureaucracy. Despite recent developments in Old Town, which include the gorgeous new PDX digs for the University of Oregon and the sleek Thomas Hacker designed Mercy Corps world headquarters that’s currently rising from the ground, Old Town still lacks a major destination for people of all income levels. That Portlanders like me routinely drive to Beaverton to patron the Westside store is proof that this project definitely has legs. Plus, an Asian grocery store is an obvious fit for a neighborhood that was once boasted large Japanese and Chinese populations.
Old Town is home to what might be the best building stock in the Pacific Northwest, and more redevelopment opportunities are possible. Because Old Town is and will continue to be home to various social service agencies that cater to the local homeless population, the types of amenities that can survive there will have to be destination-oriented and cater to the needs of people who live in the neighborhood.
By Courtney on Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 04:33PM PDT
This sounds like a fabulous idea, and it’s the first I’ve heard mention of it. I work just a few blocks from the intended site of the store and bicycle past it on most days. This would be a great site for such a “destination” business, and the inclusion of low-income housing would also be a great benefit to the neighborhood. I’m very fond of Uwajimaya, but I can rarely bring myself to drive out to Beaverton to shop there. However, I can see a location in Old Town as a regular lunch destination and shopping stop on my way home from work. I look forward to hearing more about this exciting project as it (hopefully) continues to move forward.