This year, deconstruction crews mostly demolished the former Burgerville location at 3504 SE 92nd Avenue, leaving just one wall standing. They proceeded to construct a practically new fast-food restaurant with a drive-through around that wall. This process of leaving minimal structure allowed the project to file for permits as a remodel project, rather than a new development, and to bypass a 2018 Portland City Council-enacted ban on new drive-throughs in commercial zones. This is a similar process used to create a new Chick-fil-A restaurant near Mall 205, where its Central Commercial (CX) zoning would not allow low-density construction. This process relies on rebuilding provisions in code designed to respect a property owner’s need to enhance an existing site by permitting work under its previous zoning rules. Consequently, the exceptions for built properties create additional real estate value for existing buildings that harbor attributes some businesses want, such as drive-throughs.
Permit applications noting the Oregonian’s incoming business and property ownership research identify Panda Express as the presumed future tenant of this building. It fills an Eastside gap in the American Chinese fast food brand’s Interstate 205-adjacent distribution and will give it a drive-through option for Portland customers, as it has at its Happy Valley, Oregon, location. Panda Express has not officially announced this location or stated if it will relocate an existing store to this space. This is possible because of a provision added when the City Council updated the rules. “Existing drive‐through facilities are allowed. Existing facilities can be rebuilt, expanded, or relocated on the site” for Commercial Employment (CE) zones in city code Chapter 33.130.260.
That text allows property owners to build a modern building for their business while still offering prohibited functions, such as drive-throughs. To some observers, the tactic used at 3504 SE 92nd Avenue appears to be an exploited loophole that circumvents city climate goals. However, to certain members of the business community, it is a necessary exception to code or zoning changes that officials enact before market changes support the new use of those sites. In this case, the new owners of the property at SE 92nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard expect that a drive-through-related business will continue to do well at the location, particularly given its location off a State Highway and near a freeway. They could have rebranded the previous building and opened it with minimal investment. Instead, they wanted to modernize the structure and worked within the confines of Portland regulations.
Until City officials remove prior-existence exemptions for projects like this, only market forces will reduce the number of drive-throughs in the city. When the property becomes more valuable for higher-density uses, people can expect redevelopment that does not retain its more car-centric character. Consequently, for fast-food restaurants in Portland, the famous real estate phrase may become “There are three things that matter in property: location, location, and an existing drive-through.” Work at the site is underway, with much of the exterior work completed.
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