Big-box debate isn’t over yet

PDC adds hearings as more critics object to East Burnside retail scenario

By Kristina Brenneman And Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Dec 28, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Norman Chusid and Anne Kilkenny own competing hardware stores in Southeast Portland Ñ but they are united against the city’s recruiting a Home Depot or a Lowe’s home improvement store for the Burnside Bridgehead development.

“People will buy their big stuff at the Home Depot or Lowe’s, then come to us for the 10-cent connector and ask us how to put it together,” said Chusid, who owns Ankeny Hardware, at 1134 S.E. Stark St.

“Either one will kill us Ñ cut business 20 to 25 percent,” predicted Kilkenny, who owns W.C. Winks Hardware, at 200 S.E. Stark St.

Chusid and Kilkenny may have personal reasons for opposing a so-called big-box retailer in the proposed development, which the Portland Development Commission has been spearheading, but they are not alone. So many people and organizations have come out against including Home Depot or Lowe’s in the project that the PDC recently scheduled two new public hearings on the plan.

Despite the opposition, however, the Portland City Council won’t take a vote on the matter. Instead, the PDC board is set to choose the developer at its Feb. 9 meeting.

“The council members could always testify and give us their comments that way, but as things now stand, the developer will be chosen by the commission,” PDC spokeswoman Martha Richmond said.

The lack of further City Council involvement concerns many, including Emily Simon, a lawyer who serves as the chairwoman of the land-use committee of the Kerns Neighborhood Association Ñ the neighborhood where the project will be.

“This is a huge project. It will impact Portland for the rest of our lifetimes,” Simon said. “The City Council really needs to be involved in it. They are elected to represent us.”

Simon noted that the Kerns association is on record against a big-box retailer being involved in the project.

Robyn Shanti, director of the Sustainable Business Network of Portland, agreed.

“We know the council is not required to vote on it, but we think the council should be involved in the decision, because the project will have such a significant impact on the area,” said Shanti, whose nonprofit organization includes citizens, planners and locally owned businesses.

The network has formally come out against using a big-box retailer to anchor the development, which will remake the underdeveloped blocks near the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The group sent a letter to the PDC on Dec. 8 criticizing the inclusion of national retailers.

“There are plenty of local merchants with the products, prices and people to serve Portland’s consumers,” the letter said. “All they ask is a chance to compete on a level playing field.”

Peter Finley Fry a planning consultant who works for inner east-side businesses, said the council shouldn’t make the final decision.

“It would be horrible if it went to council,” he said. “That would politicize the issue. It is not the council’s job to review these decisions. They don’t have the expertise the PDC does.”

Not everyone is opposed to seeing a big-box retailer. Ken Calvin, who manages an apartment complex at Southwest Park Avenue and Taylor Street, said his senior residents could use more shopping options near downtown.

If you’re low income there aren’t a lot of options, and Home Depot is often cheaper,” he said.

Linda Nettekoven, co-chairwoman of the Southeast Uplift neighborhood coalition, said most area citizens and businesses she has talked with are opposed to a national chain store anchoring the project. She has attended many of the project-related meetings that have been held so far.

Small-business owners and other people who have come to the meetings have expressed “a lot of concern about the suitability of a large-format retailer Ñ a big-box retailer Ñ in that location,” Nettekoven said.

Proposals on parade

The PDC, Portland’s urban development agency, has recruited three finalists for the five-block, 195,500-square-foot project.

Two of the three development proposals involve national chain stores:

• A proposal by the Gerding/Edlen Development Co. is anchored by a Home Depot store and an office for Ziba Design. Gerding/Edlen is seeking more than $40 million in tax credits and other public subsidies for the project.

• A proposal from Opus-Northwest Development is anchored by a Lowe’s. Opus-Northwest is asking the city to sell the land for the project for $4.8 million, several million less than the amount the city will have to pay to prepare the site for development.

• A proposal from Beam Development is geared toward locally owned businesses, including Oregon Wind, a wind energy manufacturing company; See Spot, a film production company; and Technical Assistance for Community Services, which provides training and support services to nonprofit agencies.

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