Hot Half-Acre on Hawthorne Trading for $1.2M

PORTLAND-The drive-thru restaurant property McDonald’s optioned but never bought in the Hawthorne district will be under new ownership by the end of the month. Commercial broker Jim Gillespie tells GlobeSt.com that he and three other investors expect to close escrow on the 23,400-sf site on Feb. 20. Steve Biggi is selling the property for $1.2 million.

Gillespie, a broker with ReMax Equity Group, says he and the others are currently planning to deliver 16,500 sf of street-level, sidewalk-fronting retail under 22 townhouse-style condominiums or apartments in the summer of 2003. They have yet to begin seeking city approval, but plan to stay well within existing zoning requirements.

McDonald’s optioned the site after Arby’s shut down in October 2000 but backed away last year after being denied a drive-thru. McDonald’s then assigned the option to a local architect who planned a similar residential over retail project but never exercised the option. Gillespie says he tied up the site in October 2001.