Saturday, July 24, 2004
More on Cascade Station
The article mentioned by Craig below points out that the original zoning for Cascade Station attempted to incredibly micromanage the development. The vacant land will be developed, say the developers who have a 99-year lease on the land, only if the city relaxes zoning and allows them to include more and larger retailers.
The largest store allowed by the current zoning is 60,000 square feet, but the developers want to increase this to 100,000 square feet. This would allow a Costco, Target, or even -- they claim -- Ikea. (Ikea's nearest store to Portland has nearly 400,000 square feet, so this is unlikely.)
Cascade Station was the first stop on the tour during the Preserving the American Dream conference in April. Located on the light-rail line, with two stops, the land remains vacant three years after the rail line opened. Conference goers were amused to note that the light-rail cars stopped at both stations even though there was no reason for anyone to get on or off and one of the stations was prominantly marked with "closed" signs.
In any case, John Charles' comment was that the site was crying for a big-box store, but Portland planners consider such stores evil so the site remains vacant. It looks like the developers agree, though the 100,000-square-foot size they seek is marginal for a big-box store. Costcos range from 70,000 to 160,000 square feet; Wal-Marts are roughly similar, though Wal-Mart Supercenters, which Portland planners would like to keep out of Portland, are generally 200,000 square feet.
The largest store allowed by the current zoning is 60,000 square feet, but the developers want to increase this to 100,000 square feet. This would allow a Costco, Target, or even -- they claim -- Ikea. (Ikea's nearest store to Portland has nearly 400,000 square feet, so this is unlikely.)
Cascade Station was the first stop on the tour during the Preserving the American Dream conference in April. Located on the light-rail line, with two stops, the land remains vacant three years after the rail line opened. Conference goers were amused to note that the light-rail cars stopped at both stations even though there was no reason for anyone to get on or off and one of the stations was prominantly marked with "closed" signs.
In any case, John Charles' comment was that the site was crying for a big-box store, but Portland planners consider such stores evil so the site remains vacant. It looks like the developers agree, though the 100,000-square-foot size they seek is marginal for a big-box store. Costcos range from 70,000 to 160,000 square feet; Wal-Marts are roughly similar, though Wal-Mart Supercenters, which Portland planners would like to keep out of Portland, are generally 200,000 square feet.
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