Customers line up in front of food carts on Southwest Alder Street in downtown Portland. The pods must vacate the space by June 30, 2019.
Laurie Isola / OPB
With a Ritz-Carlton hotel poised to arrive in Portland, city officials are scrambling to try to relocate the Alder Street food cart pod to the North Park Blocks. Marriott International announced that the luxury hotel will be built where the food carts are now, at Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street.
Now, City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office is looking to move the eateries.
One of three proposed layouts for a possible food cart pod at Portland's North Park Blocks.
Courtesy of Hennebery Eddy
Eudaly’s chief of staff, Marshall Runkel, says the biggest challenge with moving the carts is access to electricity. Currently, the North Park Blocks are a serene part of the city canopied by trees and spotted with park benches and sculptures. Runkel says 37 food carts would move to the blocks between West Burnside and Northwest Davis Streets and Southwest Park and Eighth Avenues. Eudaly’s office is working on how to pay for electricity and garbage service for the food carts. Another issue is the loss of revenue from putting food carts where metered parking spaces are now.
Travel Portland is assisting food cart owners and Friends of the Green Loop to launch an online fundraiser to support the move.
The 35-story Ritz-Carlton will feature more than 250 hotel rooms, 100 residential units and office, retail and restaurant spaces. Construction will begin later this year and the hotel is expected to open in early 2023.