Matthew Jacobson, co-founder of Sizzle Pie, purchased a multi-building property at 7323 NE Glisan Street in August 2022. Months later, Jacobson purchased a second property on the block at the corner of NE 74th Avenue and Glisan, currently serving as the construction office for a neighboring affordable housing project. Over the last few months, a new anchor tenant in the Glisan Street frontage has reshaped the prominent space to serve as their architecture firm’s regional office, while other trades-related businesses occupy the building spaces located between NE 74th Avenue and NE 73rd Avenue.

Jacobson purchased the properties with other investors through his whimsically named companies Jackie Glisan LLC and Buford T Justice LLC. In a December 2022 interview with Montavilla News, Jacobson explained that it was a general investment in the property outside his other restaurant ventures. The popular local chain Sizzle Pie sold to Sortis Holdings several years ago, and Jacobson now only works as an employee of the organization. He remains active in other investments, including Wayfinder brewery. However, outside of possible storage space for those businesses, he had no active plans to extend those businesses to this site. Instead, Jacobson has recently focused on supporting other growing businesses by dividing the space into smaller units, including a personal office for himself.

The site’s most visible transformations will support a new tenant moving into one of the NE Glisan Street storefronts. Evident Architecture Office (EAO) has offices in Portland and Cleveland, Ohio. Owner Bill Neburka spent many years as one of the principal Architects at Works Progress Architecture, where that firm designed several distinctive buildings, including the Blackbird building on E Burnside Street. Crews are slowly removing the industrial cladding on the NE Glisan Street building to reveal the classic painted brick facade.

Jacobson said he has around 11 tenants in the “T” shaped building, including EAO. There are plumbers, contractors, and people who create props for film and television, all of whom share the commercial building. He is happy with the mix of creative people working from the space. Jacobson hopes the upgrades to the building will add to the transformation at this intersection driven by the affordable housing buildings under construction. “I’m really interested to see how the development across the street is going to impact things. I think generally it’s probably gonna be good,” said Jacobson.

Crews will continue working on the building through the summer as they customize tenants’ spaces. Jacobson indicated that he plans to keep this investment for a while with an eye on enhanced future uses. For now, it will serve as another commercial complex suitable for a variety of businesses looking for flexible space.

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