Retail Redo Planned for 10th and Yamhill Garage

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PORTLAND-The Portland Development Commission is planning a multimillion makeover for the retail base of the city’s 10th and Yamhill public parking garage. The goal is to have the block be a catalyst for the investment and revitalization of neighboring properties as opposed to the deterrent it has been, according to a PDC staff report. As part of the planning process, locally based Boora Architects analyzed the property and came up with three progressively more expensive conceptual design improvement scenarios. The analysis concluded that the 29-year-old structure is dated and in need of upgrades. “This is especially true of the retail spaces along the Morrison Street and Yamhill Street facades where the addition of TriMet’s MAX stop in 1986, plus the presence of 10-foot deep covered arcades promotes loitering in front of the retail tenants,” states the Boora report. “In addition to the loitering along the Morrison Street facade, the exit stairways from the parking levels at all four corners have become sleeping locations for the homeless. The resulting trash and smells make the stairs unpleasant to use … .” All that combined with changing retail needs, insufficient city funds for tenant improvements and deferred maintenance have “led to the garage being perceived as an inhibitor to private investment and revitalization by adjacent property owners and to the public perception of an unsafe and unsanitary environment,” states the PDC staff report.Boora’s $4.7-million baseline improvement scenario calls for the retail storefronts to be pushed out to the street, capturing what is now an exterior sunken pathway around the garage that is separate from the sidewalk. The change would increase the city’s rentable square feet by 18%, from 27,000 sf to 32,000 sf, enliven the streetscape and prevent the homeless from sleeping along the pathway.The baseline scenario also calls for: the addition of display windows along 9th and 10th avenues; the removal of multiple elevation changes that currently exist in each retail space; the removal of the elevators and stairwells at 9th and Morrison and 10th and Yamhill to create additional retail square footage; the replacement of the two other stairwells; and the addition of new metal canopies with enhanced lighting.Scenario Two calls for everything in the baseline scenario plus an additional $1.8 million to screen the parking garage that rises several stories above the street-level retail. Scenario Three calls for everything in the first two plus relocating the light rail stop to a more westerly block for an additional $1 million. PDC staff is recommending the baseline scenario, in part due to the constraint on tax increment financing resources related to the South Park Blocks Urban Renewal Area, which includes the parking garage. Despite the current situation, two long-term destination retail businesses remain in the structure. The Real Mother Goose, one of the nation’s more successful contemporary craft retailers, occupies the retail space along the entire length of the Yamhill Street facade. The Bush Garden Restaurant, Portland’s first Japanese restaurant, is located in the northeast corner with entrances off 9th Avenue. “While successful businesses in their current locations, upgrades to these spaces are also overdue,” concludes the Boora report.The parking garage is owned by the city and managed by the city’s Bureau of General Services. A memorandum of understanding between the PDC and BGS regarding the project is under negotiation. A resolution for consideration of adoption of an interagency agreement is expected to be presented to the commission in February or March.