The Rocket Empire Machine’s owners are seeking a buyer for the fully leased food hall building at 6935 NE Glisan Street. Commercial Black Real Estate recently listed the property for $2 million, offering a turnkey investment for the right operator. After extensive renovations by Guerrilla Development in 2020, the former 1950-era automotive repair building began hosting five food and beverage-related businesses. Since its opening, tenants have remained stable, with only one recent turnover caused by the closing of The Pie Spot.
The property’s asking price does not include the corner parking lot parcel at 6977 NE Glisan Street. The developer split the 2,363-square-foot property from the REM project during construction planning. Kevin Cavenaugh’s Guerrilla Development company intended to create a two-story, 11-unit, single-room occupancy (SRO) building called Jolene’s Second Cousin on the vacant lot. The COVID pandemic halted that project, and the paved lot has served as surface parking for REM customers since the food hall opened. The REM building’s real estate flyer indicates the parking lot property is also available for purchase separately.
Rendering of REM building and canceled Jolene’s Second Cousin SRO, courtesy Guerrilla Development
The REM food hall is a significant anchor point for Montavilla’s portion of NE Glisan Street. It provides an accessible third-place within walking distance for many area residents living north of E Burnside Street and keeps the street active into the evenings. Its shared indoor seating and a covered outdoor courtyard often host social and community gatherings alongside a consistent customer base. Gigantic Brewing’s Robot Room offers micro-brewery drinks at the site, rounding out the casual dining experience and cultivating an environment welcoming an extended stay on the property.
PortlandMaps view showing 6935 next to 6977 NE Glisan St, both for sale
Portland’s commercial real estate market has struggled to rebound fully post-pandemic, and Kevin Cavenaugh has subsequently experienced a few publicized setbacks in other developments. In a June 2024 City Cast Portland episode, he spoke candidly about his dire economic circumstances and how he remains optimistic about Portland’s development culture despite his own troubles. Cavenaugh explained that most of his projects would remain viable investments, but he knew he would not retain ownership of them when the dust settled.
Interested buyers should contact John Gibson by phone at 503-860-3267 or email john.gibson@commercialblack.com. The future owner of this property will gain a low-maintenance multi-tenant space with relatively new commercial kitchens and a built-in customer base. Any sale will likely have little immediate impact on Rocket Empire Machine or its tenants, but the future of the adjacent undeveloped lot is far less certain.
Later this year, Rees Bettinger Properties will construct three single-family homes behind the 1950-era single-story house at 1004 NE 70th Avenue. Each new two-story structure will offer an open-concept main level with two bedrooms and a stacked laundry closet on the second floor. Each bedroom has an ensuite bathroom with a walk-in shower. The architect placed a half-bathroom under the staircase on the first floor that extends out beyond the eastern wall of the center two units, adding another three feet to those washrooms.
Site plan courtesy of Rees Bettinger Properties
The new homes will offer residents just under 1,000 square feet of living space in nearly identical floor plans. People can enter the new detached houses from a shared pathway along the property’s southern edge, and sliding glass doors at the north of the structures lead to a back patio space. The “U” shaped kitchens feature a breakfast bar facing the center of the home and a dining area off to its side. The developer will use a Middle Housing Land Division to split the property into four lots with an easement for utility lines and the walkway. Demolition crews will remove the semi-attached garage on the home’s southeast corner to allow people adequate access to the back units.
The developer, Rees Bettinger, has undertaken other projects like this one in Montavilla over the last few years. He created a cottage cluster arranged development on NE Holladay Street that wrapped up construction in 2024 and has another project underway, creating four townhouses on the same street. He often works to preserve and improve existing homes while adding more residential inventory to areas. This approach to housing infill has the added benefit of retaining material investments in a structure and maintaining some of the existing streetscape’s age and scale. However, the NE 70th Avenue property is between several new homes built in the last two decades, so matching the adjacent structures is less of a concern. Bettinger anticipates construction beginning in March or April this year, depending on building permit approval timelines.
Left image show units A and B design. Right is unit C. Renderings courtesy of Rees Bettinger Properties
At the end of January, Flipside Hats will close its Montavilla Storefront at 7848 SE Stark Street and focus on growing its already successful online distribution. Customers can find discounts on the remaining inventory at the store until they sell out within the next couple of weeks. The 500-square-foot retail space is available for a future tenant, and the building owners are actively looking for a new business to fill the space.
Kori Giudici and Jacob Wollner, co-owners of Flipside Hats, purchased the Montavilla building at the beginning of 2021 to host their business. The hat shop and online order fulfillment facility relocated from SE Belmont to Stark Street in November 2021 after an extensive renovation of the new location. Flipside Hats used the larger storefront space at 7850 SE Stark Street for their shop and made space for another storefront next door. Endure Vintage Furniture rented the smaller retail storefront in the hat-maker-owned building in February 2023 but closed the business in April 2024. Flipside Hats and its related brands moved their operations out of the building after the owners relocated to Tucson, Arizona. The company maintained Portland-based production at another location and only used the showroom space on SE Stark Street, leaving a large back room underutilized. After searching for new tenants for the smaller storefront’s vacancy, they found Storied Vintage, which could use the expanded floor space of the larger unit, so Flipside Hats moved into the smaller space.
Changing business needs and challenges running the location from another state started to negate the value of a showroom. Jacob Wollner said they still love the neighborhood and will retain ownership of the two-storefront property. “We still love the building here, there’s a lot of really amazing businesses [in Montavilla],” said Wollner. He explained that the small storefront should be a great starting point for someone looking to open a shop on SE Stark Street. “We made that [storefront] as an accessible entry point for small business, and so hopefully someone in the community can utilize it and serve the neighborhood,” remarked Wollner. It is a single-room shop with a private bathroom attached. The building owners designed the smaller storefront for retail use, having insufficient room and utilities for food prep. It is the right size and layout for a modest store that wants large windows and good foot traffic.
Customers interested in finding unique hats at a discount should visit the shop on SE Stark Street, and if people miss the sale, they can always find the hats online at flipsidehats.com. Businesses interested in the space should contact Jacob Wollner at 503-272-1357 for more information.
In January, landscapers working for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) installed street trees and other plantings in the new center median on SE 82nd Avenue at SE Clinton Street. Over the last year, crews installed several safety enhancements that have altered the traffic flow at this intersection and will make it safer for people crossing 82nd Avenue. This work is related to a bundle of 82nd Avenue Critical Fixes underway along the corridor. Crews completed the raised median with new sidewalk corners and installed pedestrian crossing signal lights in late 2024. Contractors still need to apply high-visibility crosswalk markings to the roadway and install brick-textured concrete in the unplanted section of the median.
This new in-road infrastructure will block all left turns and cross traffic from SE Clinton Street at this intersection. The new street design encourages northbound left-turning traffic to use SE Division Street and SE 80th to access streets west of the intersection. Southbound drivers can use SE Division Street and SE 84th to access destinations east of the intersection. Although a block from the SE 82nd and Division crossing, city engineers prioritize crosswalks closer together for designated Pedestrian Districts like the Jade District, where this work is underway. “Clinton Street was identified early on in our planning process as a desirable location to fill this gap, being the closest intersection to the mid-point between the two existing crossings, and the closest to meeting the 530-foot guideline, and being a four-way intersection that serves a larger area of the neighborhood on both sides of 82nd Avenue,” explained PBOT representative Hannah Schafer.
Graphic from 82nd Avenue Critical Fixes 60% Draft Concept Design, January 2024. Courtesy PBOT
City planners also prioritized improvements to this intersection based on future projects planned along SE Clinton Street. This crossing will eventually connect to an affordable housing development planned at the former Canton Grill site on the northeast corner, and the street will receive upgrades as part of the Jade and Montavilla Multimodal Improvements Project. “An upcoming funded project will be paving some gravel blocks of Clinton Street just east of 82nd Avenue and adding sidewalks that will connect to this new signalized crossing,” remarked Schafer. She noted that this crossing was the site of a 2015 traffic fatality, along with several other non-deadly crashes involving pedestrians struck by motorists, elevating the need for safety upgrades at this intersection.
PBOT currently has the vehicle and pedestrian signals covered with “out of service” indicators. When PBOT activates the signal, this equipment will work similarly to Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) signalized crossing. People request the light by pressing a button when ready to cross. However, instead of activating flashing amber lights, drivers on SE 82nd Avenue see a standard traffic light progressing from green to yellow to red, clearly halting traffic so pedestrians can cross.
In addition to adding signals and a median refuge island, contractors working for PBOT constructed enhanced stormwater inlets at the corners and installed Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant sidewalk corner ramps at SE 82nd Avenue and SE Clinton Street. This intersection could become the area’s preferred 82nd Avenue crossing point, with fewer pedestrian conflict points caused by turning cars. The planted median provides additional protection for those crossing and is a way to expand the urban tree canopy. PBOT added five trees in the center of 82nd Avenue and one more street tree near the TriMet 72 bus stop. The added shade from these trees should lower the temperature along the road’s edge and help make this area more comfortable for those navigating this busy street. Look for more trees planted at similar projects along the corridor over the next few months.
Article and photos by
Jacob Loeb
Update January 31st, 2025: This article was updated to remove the term pavers. Contractors will stamp concrete with a red brick pattern in unplanted sections of the median islands.
Starting January 13th, road crews will close E Burnside Street from 94th Avenue to 99th Avenue during evening hours. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) advises street users to detour around this section of E Burnside weekday nights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Work will not occur on Saturday or Sunday nights. The closures will prevent drivers from using the Interstate-205 overpass, requiring motorists to cross the freeway at NE Glisan Street or via the SE Stark Washing Street couplet. The two-week traffic disruption will conclude on January 25th.
E Burnside Street at 97th Ave
I-205 Multiuse Path south of Burnside
PBOT planned this closure to minimize disruptions as crews reconstruct E Burnside Street at 97th Avenue as part of theNE 97th Avenue Phase II and Couch/Davis StreetLocal Improvement District (LID). That project uses City and property owner funds to add sidewalks and create new road segments, restoring the city street grid in an area with long uninterrupted blocks and little pedestrian infrastructure. Project planners say this work will improve streets and sidewalks for existing residents while facilitating future housing growth in the Gateway area.
Crews working with PBOT will replace 50 aging railroad ties on the TriMet MAX light rail tracks that cross the E Burnside Street and 97th Avenue intersection. Closures will disrupt bus line 20 service, preventing travel in either direction between the E Burnside & NE 94th and E Burnside & SE 99th stops. Riders can walk through the construction area to the next open stop but should consult TriMet’s website for further alerts and to plan trips around the construction. I-205 Multiuse Path users can travel through this worksite. However, they should use caution and follow detour instructions as crews work to enhance the walking and rolling corridor as it passes this segment of E Burnside.
PBOT will work to maintain local access to residences and businesses during the project. People should anticipate delays and obey instructions on signs or from the crew on site. When completed, all users of the streets in the LID project area will have access to strong roads built with nine inches of asphalt over an eight-inch aggregate base and wide sidewalks with street trees. Work in this area will continue past these closures, and people are encouraged to keep aware of work in the roadway and changing traffic patterns.
A — Actually, several notable people have lived in Montavilla, and I will introduce them in several articles, beginning with Annie Miner Peterson.
Photo of Annie Miner Peterson. Source: Iola Larson Collection, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Annie Peterson (1860-1939) is remembered for her contribution to our knowledge of Northwestern indigenous cultures. She was the last living speaker of the Miluk and Hanis languages. She also remembered and shared her memories of tribal history and lore of the indigenous peoples of the southern Oregon coast. Although she lived in the Coos Bay area most of her life, she resided in Montavilla for about a dozen years. Several accounts of her life have been published, most notably Lionel Youst’s 307-page biography. His title, She’s Tricky Like Coyote, is a translation of her Hanis name, ts’mii-xwn. (Luckily, the Multnomah County Library has copies.)
Annie was born in 1860 in a traditional village on Coos Bay’s South Slough. Her mother was of Hanis and Miluk (aka Coos) blood. The father Annie never knew was British. As White settlers started moving onto tribal lands, the U. S. government forced local indigenous peoples to relocate to the Yachats and then to the Siletz reservations. This is where Annie spent her early years. Conditions on the reservations were harsh. Many died from starvation and diseases. Annie did not attend school. She never learned to read or write. But she was a gifted linguist, and she picked up additional indigenous languages spoken on the reservation. She also learned many traditional crafts, such as basketry. She acquired survival skills such as foraging for local food. And, unlike many young people, she loved listening to the elders reciting their tribal histories and traditional stories. When she reached adolescence, she was sold, according to tribal custom, to her first husband.
Annie left the Siletz reservation in 1877. In 1880, she began living and working in White communities in the Coos Bay area. After enduring decades of poverty and traumatic marriages, her recently widowed friend Ida Wasson (1870-1966) convinced Annie that they should start anew in Portland. They took the new railroad line to the metropolis and found lodging in a boarding house somewhere in Portland. Annie, who was broke, was able to pay for her food and board by doing laundry for the owner. It was here that she met her fifth and final husband, the kindly Carl Peterson (1871-1939), a naturalized Swede.
Carl worked in a logging camp near Kelso, Washington, during the week, and, like other loggers, he liked to go to Portland on weekends to relax. There, he met Annie, fell in love, and asked her to be his wife. She said yes, but first, she needed to divorce her current husband, Charles Baker. She returned to Coos Bay and began the divorce process. Her ex-husband’s situation probably strengthened her case. He was in jail for smuggling alcohol into Oregon, which was then a dry state. Annie was granted a divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Oregon newspapers had followed the landmark Baker case; The Oregonian even reported the divorce.
The Morning Oregonian, January 7, 1918, page 7. Source: Historic Oregon Newspapers
Annie and Carl married in Vancouver, Washington, on October 15, 1918. Carl had bought a modest house in Montavilla on 74th Street (now 74th Avenue) between Glisan and Everett. The house has been replaced by a modern residence. At this time, Annie had not been discovered by anthropologists, so she and Carl lived a quiet life until at least April 1930, when they appeared in the 1930 census.
What was Annie’s and Carl’s life like in Montavilla? Fortunately, Annie’s granddaughter, Iola Aasen Larsen, lived with the couple from 1921 to 1923, and she described aspects of their lives to Annie’s biographer, Lionel Youst. Carl continued working at the lumber camp during the week and came home on weekends. On weekends, they would go for drives in Carl’s car and to movies, very likely at the Granada Theatre, which was just a block away from their home.
During the week, Annie often occupied herself with traditional skills she’d learned early in life. She was skilled at basketry, beadwork, and sewing. She also applied her foraging knowledge in the new suburban environment, foraging for serviceberries, blackberry shoots, salmonberries, nettles, and wild tubers in nearby Sullivan’s Gulch—where I-84 runs now—and other nearby locations. Her favorite food was fish, a coastal indigenous staple. For this, she had to find a local market. In the 1920s, there were two stores on Glisan Street that offered fish: Rupert’s Grocery Store and the Montavilla Meat Market, both an easy walk from her home. On weekdays Annie and Iola liked to go to vaudeville matinees downtown. Since Annie could not read, Iola said she read her newspapers cover-to-cover, and when attending movies, then still the silent type, Iola whispered the captions in Annie’s ear.
While still living in Montavilla, Annie and Carl liked to spend their brief summer vacations in Charleston on Coos Bay’s South Slough, the area where Annie was born. They moved to Charleston permanently at the beginning of the Great Depression when Carl had lost his job. They sold their Montavilla house and made their summer cabin their new permanent and final home. On the South Slough, Annie could gather seafood galore for free, and Carl found employment as a deep-sea fisherman.
Annie and Carl Peterson beside their Charleston house. Photo source: Iola Larson Collection, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
On November 11, 1931, Annie testified in hearings held in North Bend regarding reparations for the lands taken from Coos County Indians and given to White settlers in the 1850s. Annie was then the second or third-oldest Coos Native still alive. She testified in the Hanis tongue about the boundaries of the Coos tribal land. She also described the harsh conditions of life on the reservations where she grew up. The food shortages. The public beatings of those who left and were captured. Annie broke down on the stand, and proceedings had to be halted. She did not live to see the partial restoration of Siletz tribal lands in 1980.
Annie’s life changed in the summer of 1933 when Professor Melville Jacobs of the University of Washington came knocking at her door.
Since the early twentieth century, anthropologists had been trying to understand the culture of Oregon’s indigenous peoples. Jacobs himself had been doing field research to document the language, culture, music, and oral traditions of the indigenous tribes of the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, there were few people by then who remembered the old ways or the old languages. Professor Jacobs must have been ecstatic when a group of Hanis Natives told him of a Miluk speaker in southern Oregon. He would discover that Annie Peterson, besides speaking Miluk and Hanis, was also a treasure trove of traditional lore.
Article about Annie Petersen in The Kennewick (Washington) Courier-Reporter, October 19, 1933 Source: Chronicling America
In 1933, Jacobs began recording Annie as she sang tribal songs and recited tribal stories she remembered in abundance. In 1934, he returned to Annie’s home in Charleston to continue recording Annie’s recitations, now using the portable electric recorder just invented by two University of Washington colleagues. The new recorder was battery-powered, allowing Jacobs to play back what Annie had just recorded.
Annie Miner Peterson reciting Coos stories for Melville Jacobs in 1934. Source Cascadia Weekly, April 16, 2008
Jacobs published many of the stories and songs in 1939 and 1940. Below is an example.
“Bluejay shaman,” a Coos myth as recited by Annie Peterson. Source: Coos Myth Texts (1940)
Annie Peterson was 73 and 74 when she recited the traditional stories. Because she retained them without the assistance of written records and because she was willing to share them, she saved them for posterity. PSU anthropology professor Douglas Deur called Peterson “the foremost source of ethnographic and linguistic information on the Coos and Coquille tribes” of southern Oregon. Annie had escaped the diseases that took many lives on the reservations, but she died of tuberculosis at age 83 on May 19, 1939, in her Charleston home. She was buried in the white buckskin dress that she had tanned, trimmed, and sewed. Her husband Carl died a few months later, also of tuberculosis.
By
Patricia Sanders
Acknowledgment: I am grateful to Peter Sv-gvs (Black Bear) Hatch, History & Archaeology Specialist, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, for sharing information with me about Annie Miner Peterson. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians website includes a short biography of Annie Miner Peterson.
Note: If you know of other Montavilla notables, please send me an email, and I’ll see what I can discover. ~Patricia Sanders~
Disclaimer: This article includes historical texts with terms for Native people that are considered derogatory. Its use here is necessary to provide the reader direct references and is not indicative of this publications use of language. Please direct any concerns around terms used in an article to editor@montavilla.net.
This is an installment of Montavilla History Questions Answered. If you have questions about Montavilla’s past that you’d like answered, local historian Patricia Sanders will investigate your question. Please email your questions to history@montavilla.net and we may feature it alongside Patricia Sanders’ research in a future post.
In the final weeks of 2024, support staff readied 41 units of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) in the recently completed Beacon at Glisan Landing apartments. The four-story building at 7450 NE Glisan Street, run by Catholic Charities of Oregon, welcomed its first four residents ahead of the new year and will gradually bring in more people transitioning from homelessness. Beacon is the voucher-based housing that Metro and the Portland Housing Bureau worked to create on a half-city block that includes a second building offering income-restricted affordable housing.
Related Northwest won the bid to develop the former Trinity Broadcasting Network property with different co-sponsors / service providers for each project. Sally Erickson, Community Services Director for Catholic Charities of Oregon, explained Beacon is just one of nearly two dozen locations the group operates to help shelter the state’s housing-insecure population. “Catholic Charities has about 23 affordable properties statewide. All of them are affordable to people [earning] below 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) and in some cases zero to 30 percent,” said Erickson. As with this Montavilla location, many properties offer subsidized units for senior citizens on fixed incomes, Social Security, or those with disabilities living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), currently $943.00 monthly in Oregon.
Telehealth room
Erickson noted that older people are continuing to make up a significant portion of the unsheltered population each year. Individuals in that demographic are likely to move into places like Beacon. Catholic Charities recently opened a similar location to Beacon in the Buckman neighborhood called Francis + Clare Place. That building added 61 units of PSH with a population trending towards older adults up to 76 years old. “People’s perception of who is experiencing homelessness would become very skewed if you went and joined a community meal [at Francis + Clare] on a Friday night and saw the people coming in,” remarked Erickson. The Multnomah County Coordinated Access program, administered by the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS), manages resident placement in PSH housing.
Community room TV area
Community room kitchen
Community room activity shelves
That county-wide Coordinated Access program prioritizes placement in housing programs based on environmental threats to unsheltered persons and their health needs. “We take referrals from that coordinated county-wide waitlist, and everybody who’s on that waitlist has been assessed by an outreach worker or social worker. They’ve gone through a very intensive series of questions to determine their relative vulnerability. People moving into new supportive housing like this project are individuals who outreach workers have deemed the most vulnerable. They are most likely to die if they continue to live on the streets,” said Erickson. “So it tends to be people that are older, people with chronic health conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or COPD.” Ken Davis, the Supportive Housing manager for Catholic Charities of Oregon, explained most PSH communities he oversees have large numbers of medically fragile residents. Some locations require access to various levels of onsite medical care. However, Beacon at Glisan Landing, as a smaller facility, will not have that level of support. Instead, it features a Telehealth room across from the ground floor community room. Residents who can afford the discounted internet service could always use their apartments for virtual doctor appointments, but people may need better digital access or privacy if they share a studio apartment with a significant other.
Food pantry stocked with home goods ahead of food delivery
Unlike temporary shelters, Beacon at Glisan Landing residents do not have a time limit on their stay in the subsidized apartment building. Erickson explained that a segment of the PSH population moves out after a few years, finding other living situations that better meet their changing needs or social dynamic. However, some people will stay housed in the building for the rest of their lives. The program requires that people pay a third of their income towards the rent and allows for incomes to drop to zero without the threat of eviction. When supporting people with constrained incomes or mobility, food access is a critical component of resident services at Beacon. Due to a grant from the LDS Church, this building will have a free food pantry for residents. “It’s really important to provide [a pantry] onsite because healthy food has gotten so expensive for our residents. This will be our 10th food pantry that opens in our buildings, said Erickson. Not only do residents receive food, but funding allows the support team to provide essential home goods, including plates, silverware, pots, pans, and other kitchenware. Residents also have access to personal hygiene supplies and many of the standard items of life that are not regularly available to those living without shelter.
Building management limits the pace people move into the building to ensure the team has time to help them with the extensive application process needed for residency and settle into their new living situation. “There’s quite a bit of paperwork with Home Forward to qualify people and do background checks,” said Erickson. They will work with five to eight people weekly until residents occupy all 41 studio apartment units. The resident services furnish the units with a small table and chairs, a nightstand, and a Central City Bed®. Residents can upgrade their furniture, and building management will store the provided items for future use. Project planners designed this housing for adult living. Couples can share a unit, but the Coordinated Access program steers people with children towards other PSH options with play areas and family-oriented amenities. Communal spaces on the ground floor centers around a large community room with a TV, kitchen space, and other entertainment items. Ken Davis explained that an essential part of the supportive housing program is drawing people out of their rooms and into the community. “Seeing people come out of their shell and engage with others, create friendships, it’s just great. We know it has all sorts of other beneficial health effects,” said Davis. “COVID [mandated distancing] has been brutal for folks, compounded by the social isolation of being houseless for a long time.”
The building also features outdoor tables with seating in a communal courtyard area next to the secure bike storage lockers for those who do not want to park their transportation in the units or laundry rooms. Keyfob-operated locks secure the building at all times, and a security guard is onsite when the ground-floor offices close. The residents are free to come and go as they like, as Beacon at Glisan Landing is not a facility but an apartment building with other add-on services. Residents can invite guests over and enjoy the freedoms of independent living while having access to supportive services. This building will have two full-time case managers and three resident service specialists working with the people living at Beacon. A peer support team will work onsite a couple of days a week. When crews complete work later this year, the property management company will support Beacon and the Aldea at Glisan Landing affordable housing development next door.
Coin and app operated laundry room with bike storage
Within the next two months, Beacon will become the home for over 40 new Montavilla residents. As the other Glisan Landing facilities open to tenants, NE Glisan Street will become more active, with residents looking to eat and shop along the commercial corridor. Area residents interested in participating in programs at Beacon can contact Catholic Charities Oregon to participate in operating the food pantry or other help for people who may need assistance navigating the neighborhood.
Portland Fire & Rescue responded to an early morning fire inside the shuttered Venue Gentlemen’s Club at 9950 SE Stark Street. The national chain chicken sandwich company, Chick-fil-A Inc., owns the approximately 7,012 square-foot building. Firefighters arrived just before 3 a.m. on January 4th, reportedly observing heavy smoke coming from the structure. Upon entering the building, crews found signs of a ceiling fire and called in a second alarm assignment. Within 20 minutes, crews had the fire under control and found no signs of injury within the building.
Firefighters working outside the shuttered Venue Gentlemen’s Club entrance. Photo by Dennis Weis, courtesy PF&R.
Chick-fil-A Inc. completed the purchase of this property in November 2024, less than a month after the adult entertainment company leasing the space ceased operations on October 26th. This building is located between SE Stark and SE Washington Streets on SE 99th Avenue, just across SE Washington Street from the Mall 205 complex that new investors purchased in January 2022. Several real estate and commercial property interests are investing in properties within this formerly bustling retail center in the Gateway District. Chick-fil-A joins other national chains like Chipotle Mexican Grill, which are continuing efforts to reestablish this area as a commercial corridor for East Portland. Despite the big-name brands moving into some storefronts in this area, the new owners of Plaza 205 are courting a cohort of Asian American owned businesses blocks east of the future Chick-fil-A location, offering more retail diversity to the area’s revival.
North side smoke damage and signs of firefighter efforts to cut power (Jacob Loeb)
Based on visible damage, the fire at 9950 SE Stark Street is unlikely to change plans for the Chick-fil-A project significantly. The building’s overhaul includes substantial renovations while maintaining the general shape of the 1984-era building. Motorists will maintain parking lot access from the two existing SE Washington Street and SE Stark Street driveways. However, guests will need to park their vehicles at this fast food location as the building will not offer a drive-through window. Crews will rework the facade and roof to incorporate a new entry vestibule. Sidewalk improvements around the site will join the parking lot and ramp additions to increase accessible entry to the restaurant. Workers will restructure the interior with all new restrooms, a play area, a sit-down dining room, and kitchen space to meet the Chick-fil-A standards. The existing free-standing sign by each entrance will lose its lower panel letter boards, and contractors will refresh them with Chick-fil-A branding. Illuminated channel letter signs spelling the restaurant’s name will adorn the sides of the building. Permit plans indicate this store will display a “Delivery Drivers” sign directing the app-based service providers to a designated area for pickup, perhaps signaling an anticipated elevated demand for that option.
Venue Gentlemen’s Club post closing October 2024 (Jacob Loeb)
Fire investigators are still working to determine what sparked the blaze. If Portland Permitting & Development approves plans currently under review, crews could begin construction at this property in 2025. However, fire damage could further complicate this project, which has taken years to develop.
Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Otter Wax, a neighborhood producer of small-batch specialty goods handcrafted in Portland. Using only natural ingredients, they make modern care products that are steeped in tradition. We thank them for their support.
In the early evening of January 2nd, a person brandishing a handgun robbed Personal Beast Pet Supply at 8119 SE Stark Street. The assailant reportedly struck the store employee across the face with the butt of his gun and discharged the firearm while grabbing the cash drawer. The suspect ran off after destroying the store’s Point of Sale (POS) system, gaining only a modest amount of cash kept in the store. The ricocheting bullet went through the front counter but fortunately failed to hit the people and animals inside the shop. Portland Police officers arrived within a minute of the 911 call, just missing the suspect. Police stayed onsite for several hours, processing the physical evidence left behind.
Portland police forensic sticker by bullet hole in Personal Beast’s sales counter.
Pet supply store owner Sara Philbrook is baffled by this first-of-a-kind crime at her business. The store has suffered extensive property damage in the past from a habitual window breaker and the occasional shoplifter or other non-threatening theft. Still, the store has remained a safe space for her employees and their animals. “We’ve had people come in and steal things, really minor shoplifting over the years,” recalled Philbrook. “Even when we had the vandalism, it was just vandalism. We’ve never felt physically threatened like this before.” Philbrook explained that this type of crime does not make sense because they do not deal in cash often, with nearly 90 percent of customers paying by credit card. The POS only has enough money to cover the occasional transaction. At a replacement cost of $2,000, the year-old cash register equipment destroyed in the robbery was worth nearly 20 times what Philbrook estimates the perpetrator stole.
The damaged POS equipment placed back on the counter after robbery
Since 2008, the pet supply store has served as Historic Montavilla Downtown’s closest storefront to SE 82nd Avenue. Sara Philbrook feels that could have contributed to why the assailant targeted the shop. The location generates less foot traffic than other stores on SE Stark Street, and it is next to a fast food parking lot that suffers from issues with drug use. “You could see him on the camera. He was scoping out the neighborhood for a while. He probably just saw us as the weakest link. We’re not super busy, not like a restaurant,” said Philbrook. “I feel like it was a fluke. I don’t think that it’s indicative of any sort of uptick in gun violence. I want to say that we just got unlucky.” She will adjust how they staff the store, requiring two people on shift at all times. All the store staff enjoy the neighborhood, and Philbrook appreciates her shop’s landlord but would consider relocating further west on the street to lessen their exposure to future crimes.
Personal Beast Pet Supply is back open on its regular schedule. The injured staff member will take time off to recuperate and process the traumatic events. People wanting to support the store can shop for pet supplies or visit to wish them well. Some customers have delivered plants and cards in a show of support. If pet owners do not need supplies but want to help counter Personal Beast’s losses, Sara Philbrook offers paid pet nutrition plan consultations. The store’s website details the service and scheduling options. The Personal Beast team appreciates Montavilla’s reaction to this event and is thankful they can recover from the injuries sustained. “I’m glad to be in this community regardless of the situations that happened,” said Philbrook. “Montavilla is pretty much the sweet spot. If this had happened in any other neighborhood, I don’t think we would get the sort of support and community outpouring we get here.”
On January 2nd, Portland’s new 12-member City Council elected Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney from District 2 as the Council President and Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane from District 3 as Vice President. The morning council session stretched into the afternoon as repeated votes failed to yield a majority for any one Council President candidate. What originally started as a tie vote between Councilor Candace Avalos of East Portland’s District 1 and Councilor Olivia Clark of Downtown’s District 4 delivered more centrally location leadership. After today’s vote, City Council leadership will reside with representatives from North-Northeast and Southeast Portland.
The hours-long election for Council President was in contrast to the swift election of Councilor Koyama Lane for Vice President. She ran unopposed for the position and had broad support. Early in the voting process, Councilor Loretta Smith pushed for new Mayor Keith Wilson to provide the tie-breaking vote against the advice of Portland’s City Attorney. Fellow Councilors disagreed with that path forward, and the group put in hours of discussion and voting to end up with a seven to five vote in favor of Councilor Pirtle-Guiney against Councilor Avalos.
Anyone looking for an indication of how the new 12-member City Council will function in the coming year has hours of deliberation to review while forming that opinion. However, the group of electeds left the proceedings with supportive and congratulatory words for each other, and this early test of the system yielded the results that many Portland voters envisioned for this new form of City government. The representatives worked for their District’s position and the city as a whole, resulting in a compromise that moves the work forward.
