- ADDRESS: 2202 E Burnside St.
- YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION: 1974
- SQUARE METERS: 14,950
- MARKET VALUE: 3.75 million US dollars
- OWNER: East Burnside Apartments LLC
- HOW LONG IT IS EMPTY: 4 years
- WHY IT’S EMPTY: market forces
In January 2020, a few months before the pandemic hit, Universal Cycles announced it would move its Portland operations to Beaverton from a sprawling location at 2202 E Burnside St. in the Buckman neighborhood.
The news came as a blow to Portland cyclists, who were already suffering from a series of store closures.
The shop also sat in the middle of one of Southeast Portland’s busiest bike routes: customers could pull into Ankeny Street and park there. There was also plenty of bike storage. The venerable Citybikes co-op is three blocks west. And these days, Bike Portland hosts a shared bike happy hour every Wednesday from 3 to 6 p.m. five blocks east at local hotspots Gorges Beer Co., Ankeny Tap & Table and Crema PDX Coffee & Bakery.
“It was highly visible on Ankeny, one of Portland’s main bike streets,” says Jonathan Maus, editor of the Bike Portland blog.
The new owner, East Burnside Apartments LLC, wanted to replace the bunker-like bike shop with a 119-unit apartment building with 50 parking spaces. The project would have expanded residential development along Ankeny, where two large new apartment complexes and a number of townhouses have sprung up in recent years.
But the project stalled. The permits that East Burnside Apartments LLC applied for in late 2020 remained dormant. Campers made themselves comfortable in the sprawling parking lot until the owner had some serious fencing put up. Last summer, developers told the Buckman Neighborhood Association that higher interest rates and construction costs had delayed the project.
In late July, the LLC, led by Robert G. Johnson, a longtime property manager and developer, resumed the permitting process, city records show. Johnson did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but one of the largest undeveloped parcels in Buckman appears to be close to launching.
Nick Olson, chairman of the neighborhood’s zoning association, says the developers have come up with an appealing design and addressed neighbors’ concerns. He hopes the design becomes a reality and displaces the blight that has been simmering there since 2020.
“This is/was a really promising project,” says Olson.
Every week WW investigates a mysteriously vacant lot in the city of Portland, explains why it is empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to [email protected].
