1. Announcements:
- Green King planted native plants in the King Facility parking lot as the next step in creating a bioswale. Architects Without Borders will be at December’s King NA meeting to discuss future plans for re-imagining and redesigning the King School grounds, including further de-paving.
- The long-awaited bench has been installed in Two Plum Park. Many thanks and congratulations to Emily Wilson for several years of work on this. A celebration will be held at Two Plum Park on Sunday, November 24th, between 2-4 pm. All are invited!
- Neighbors have been working with the police bureau and other city agencies to address crime concerns around 12th & Alberta. More information to come.
- King NA raised about $1500 to provide weekend lunches to King Elementary students in need, at a Whole Foods fundraiser in early November. Many thanks to Whole Foods and to the nearly 275 people who turned out.
- Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods committee meetings and upcoming events can be found on their website, necoalition.org.
- Jamie Patridge will present at December’s King NA meeting on how our neighborhood can stand behind teachers in their current negotiations with Portland Public Schools.
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2. Sara King of the Portland Development Commission confirmed that Wednesday afternoon, the PDC’s board of commissioners voted unanimously to accept a deal with Majestic Realty for the lot at MLK & Alberta (formerly known as Vanport III, now called MLK-South). The PDC will sell the land to Majestic for approximately $500,000, though there are benchmarks along the way that Majestic must meet in order for the sale to be complete (related to design review, financing, and the pace/speed at which tasks are completed on the way to beginning construction).
Majestic will tear down a PDC-owned house on Garfield, and build two buildings. The building along the Alberta side of the lot will house a Trader Joe’s; the second building, on the Garfield side of the lot, will house approximately 8-10 small businesses. Both buildings will be a single story. No design sketches are available; actual design is just getting underway. 100 parking spaces will be in back of these two buildings.
The PDC’s decision-making process on this development was kept secret at the request of Trader Joe’s. The neighborhood will have opportunity to have input on project design, in coming months, though not in any substantial sense. The PDC’s sense that a grocery store is a good fit for this part of Portland is based on discussions about Vanport development that took place more than five years ago, and on consultation with a single area resident during city-wide discussions about possible grocery store location a couple of years ago, per Sara King.
Neighbors had an opportunity to question Sara and the developers from Majestic; no reps from Trader Joe’s were on hand. Reactions were varied – some expressing support, as Trader Joe’s is an attractive place to shop, and development and the business climate in the area will be strengthened by development of this lot; others were skeptical of the need for another grocery store, or frustrated by the PDC’s process for deciding on this proposal.
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3. Architects (TVA) and developer Vic Remmer presented a proposal, now filed with the city, for a new development at MLK Boulevard and Mason Street (northeast corner). The existing storefronts would be demolished. In their place would rise a five-story building: four floors of apartments with ground-level commercial storefronts.
There will be 36 apartments, 450-600 square feet, priced at “market rates” (approx $800-1200/month). Seven parking spots will be created behind/underneath the building, with numerous bike lock-ups. The outline of the proposal can be found here.
Neighbors urged the developers to keep current Mason/MLK business Signature Cutz in the new building; the developers were non-committal.
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King NA will have a board meeting on Thursday, November 21st, time and location TBD.
The NA’s next general meeting will be Wednesday, December 11th, 6:30 pm, at NECN/King Facility, 4815 NE 7th Avenue.
Join Center for Food Safety on October 12th to commemorate World Food Day at the Bees and Seeds Festival. Hear our senior attorney George Kimbrell speak, and then stop by our information table to pick up some materials and say hello!