Park deal marks Gateway milestone

By nick budnick

The Portland Tribune, Dec 25, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

L.E. Baskow / Portland Tribune

Bob Earnest, neighbor of a four-acre lot the city is in the process of purchasing, says the $4.3 million deal is just the first step in the transformation of the Gateway district from a suburban shopping area to East Portland's version of downtown.

A vacant lot, contaminated dirt, an empty building — the plot in the Gateway area that city officials are currently trying to buy may not seem like much.

But neighbors hope it’s the start of something big for a long-neglected neighborhood.

Spanning 653 acres in outer Northeast Portland, Gateway is like a slice of central California — an auto-oriented suburban shopping area.

Years ago, however, it was designated by Metro, the regional planning agency, as a “regional center,” intended to become East Portland’s downtown — a livable, pedestrian-oriented mix of housing and businesses.

Given the reality that people like nearby Hazelwood resident Bob Earnest saw every day, planners’ idea of high-rises and urban amenities was a wildly ambitious proposal. Still, despite the area’s high-priority designation, “nothing’s happened yet,” Earnest says. “Which is why acquiring that property is at least a step in the right direction.”

Officials with the Portland Development Commission and Portland Parks & Recreation are in the process of closing on a $4.3 million purchase of two plots covering four acres of land near the corner of Northeast 102nd Avenue and Halsey Street. The northern part of the property includes a building that once housed a restaurant, J.J. North’s Grand Buffet. The southern part, once home to a bowling alley and bingo hall, is owned by a Ukrainian church.

Much of the targeted property is slated to be parkland — a top priority for local residents and planners.

Gateway is bounded by Adventist Medical Center and Mall 205 to the south and the Gateway Shopping Center to the north. In 2003 it had an estimated population of only 10,000, according to a Metro planning document. It also had next to no parks — only 5.5 acres — making it one of the most parks-deficient areas in the city.

But despite making parkland acquisition a priority for the area in 2001, the city hasn’t made any progress.

“It’s been on again, off again for the last seven or eight, maybe 10 years,” says Earnest, of the city’s efforts to buy the plot at 102nd and Halsey.

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