Clackamas County (Milwaukie, Oregon City, Lake O, Happy Valley, etc.)

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Doesn't look like the restaurants at Mercato Grove are doing well. I haven't been, but the it looks like the restaurants are pretty hidden from the street with only a tiny sign advertising their presence.




...continues at the Portland Business Journal.

My question is how are all the other businesses doing in this development? If they are struggling too, then it most likely is a bad design, but if the other places are able to draw in customers, then it might be these restaurants themselves as to why they failed.

[dizflip]

Originally Posted by colossalorder

I've been there. In addition to the lack of visibility, access and parking are challenge. The layout is odd, hard to see the restaurants even on the interior. The space overall is tight and the apartments on top give it a claustrophobic feel. They should have centered on a more open pedestrian space rather a bunch of parking spots. I think if you are going out for a big splurgy dinner, you want something more special than what just feels like another suburban strip mall. I bet they would have done better in downtown Lake Oswego which has some charm and energy.

Driving by it, I honestly thought it was a business park or a care home.

[babs]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

My question is how are all the other businesses doing in this development? If they are struggling too, then it most likely is a bad design, but if the other places are able to draw in customers, then it might be these restaurants themselves as to why they failed.

I've been there in Friday and Saturday nights and many of the restaurants are packed. The donut shop had to sell a lot of donuts to make a profit. Most donut shops like Dunkin make their money on coffee, not donuts. Perhaps St. Jacks had its own set of issues. Tried it once, wasn't impressed. Let's not be so quick to blame the development. People know it's there and a lot of restaurants opened at the same time. And remember restaurants have the highest failure rate of any industry.

[maccoinnich]

Tribal coalition plans new development on west side of Willamette Falls



Another development project could mean more public access at one of Oregon’s most spectacular waterfalls.

The Willamette Falls Trust, an intertribal coalition of four tribes with ancestral ties to Willamette Falls, announced a new plan Thursday to develop an island on the west side of the waterfall in West Linn, which would become the second tribal project at the falls.

The tribes, in collaboration with Portland General Electric, which currently owns and operates a hydroelectric facility on the island, are launching a feasibility study to determine the cost and timeline of redeveloping the land. The intention is ultimately to return public access to a place that has long held cultural, spiritual and historical importance.

“The reasons that these falls matter so much is that they’re a sacred place, they’re a place where people have come and gathered, traded, fished and prayed for countless generations,” Gerard Rodriguez, associate director of tribal affairs for the Willamette Falls Trust, said.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[maccoinnich]

Lake Oswego approves vertical housing tax incentive program for North Anchor



Following months of discussion, the Lake Oswego City Council officially enacted a tax incentive zone to prop up a project that would add a hotel and mixed-use development in downtown Lake Oswego.

The City Council voted 6-0 to create a pilot program for a potentially broader vertical housing development zone program at a meeting Tuesday, Dec. 19. The program provides tax incentives to mixed-use developments that have a bottom retail floor with housing above. The pilot project targets North Anchor, which has stalled due to financing struggles on the part of partner Urban Development + Partners. UDP mentioned this program as a way to make the project more financially feasible.

The program would provide a 20% tax reduction for each housing floor above the bottom retail floor for 10 years. The city estimated that its forgoed revenue from the taxing district would be $56,000-$97,000 per year.

Mayor Joe Buck noted that many major projects within the city have received public incentives, such as The Windward and Lake View Village. He said the North Anchor project is no different.

...continues at the Lake Oswego Review (article is from December)

[dizflip]

LO seems to be doing the best job at mixed-use development of all the suburban cities in Portland, all while having consistently pushed away any major transit investments. Such irony.