Portland Development Commission considers Saturday Market relocation

Although a planned move of Saturday Market isn't likely to happen for another two to three years, the Portland Development Commission and involved stakeholders have pared down to seven a list of potential sites that includes the market's current home just south of West Burnside Street between Front and First avenues, where it would stay put and create a market district with the planned Portland Public Market.

The seven sites are the U and R blocks near Union Station, the Northwest Hoyt Street and Fifth Avenue blocks, the Rose Quarter near Memorial Coliseum, Waterfront Park across from the market's current location, the Morrison Bridge blocks, the South Park Blocks and the market's current downtown home.

Although all of the sites are only possibilities at this point, the option to stay in its place is of particular interest to at least two people: Paul Verhoeven, executive director of Portland Saturday Market, and Ron Paul, a Portland Planning Bureau staffer who sits on the planned Portland Public Market's board of directors.

The PDC has also expressed interest in creating a market district on par with Seattle's Pike Place, according to Amy Miller Dowell, a planner with the PDC.

The Portland Public Market would be a retail space for food and wine dealers; organizers are looking to make its home in the Skidmore Fountain Building.

But fearing two markets in such close vicinity, some stakeholders - particularly vendors - have expressed concerns that the Portland Public Market could make the Saturday Market obsolete.

However, Paul said, those concerns are unfounded.

Saturday Market is a crafts market operating seasonally and two days a week with a distinct demography and support, he said. The Public Market would operate seven days a week year-round and would have overlapping demography, but one that's quite different.

I think it's a good idea, said Verhoeven. There could be a lot of synergy between the two, but there are questions to be answered. Is a market seven days a week feasible? How would that integrate with a craft market on the weekend?

Saturday Market vendors, Verhoeven said, would like to either stay where they are or move not far from their current location. Vendors, he said, are fairly anxious about the move. They've been where we are now, and they'd like to stay.

Said Paul: Understandably, there are some vendors who have voiced concern. But the management of Saturday Market has understood from the beginning that the Public Market is not interested in making it obsolete but rather add a new dimension to a market district that could be created.

Verhoeven is concerned that if the Saturday Market does move to a new location, it might not be able to survive.

We're pretty apprehensive about that because of the nature of our vendors, he said. A lot of them are just one-person shops, and they don't have a lot of reserves to withstand downtime. This has to be carefully structured.

I think initially there were concerns, said the PDC's Miller Dowell, but as people continued to work on it, it became clear that Saturday Market has been a mainstay, a retail outlet for craft items made and sold by their creators for years. It's a destination.

Although concerned, Verhoeven remains optimistic. There may be sites that work better than what we have now, he said. It's too early to tell. Certainly, it's not perfect where we are, and if we had a site with permanence, we would be able to make improvements and make changes.

Verhoeven said he wasn't particularly surprised by the prospect of moving. We are aware of the downtown waterfront plan. We've known for years that we were vulnerable to a move.

How the sites

were chosen

Saturday Market currently rents its surface parking lots, and there has been increasing talk by the PDC and others that the area is ripe for mixed-use development opportunities.

The PDC has worked with the community to consider how we can improve our waterfront, which is 85 percent surface parking lots and garage doors, said Miller Dowell. The Downtown Waterfront Development Opportunity Project identified an infill strategy for (space) along the waterfront, with a catalyst project in the area. The fire station move was a part of that project.

The two surface parking lots on which the Saturday Market is located are owned by the Bill Naito family. Ankeny Square is owned by the city, and the area beneath the Burnside Bridge is a public right of way.

The seven sites were chosen by PDC project managers, a stakeholder advisory committee and the consulting company Parametrix. Miller Dowell said that the PDC worked with Parametrix, Verhoeven and Paul collecting surveys, scouting locations and interviewing market vendors and community members.

What they found was a long list of factors that had to be taken into consideration in order for the new site to work. These include size - as much as 85,000 square feet would be needed - long-term availability, weekend availability, a central location, loading access for vendors, accessibility to light rail and protections from weather.

The PDC has not performed any due diligence on the potential sites but rather chose them because they fit the list of criteria.

All of them have plusses and minuses, said Miller Dowell.

Parametrix will continue to work with the PDC until the agency makes a recommendation to the board of commissioners, according to the company.

An unlisted alternative

One alternative site that isn't listed in the PDC's seven is to relocate the Saturday Market directly - and literally - under the Burnside Bridge.

I'm partial toward utilizing the substructure of the Burnside Bridge, said Paul. I want that to remain part of the conversation because it creates a new, exciting venue and provides proximity to the Public Market, he said.

The way it would work, explained Paul, would be to build a deck on the surface of the undercarriage of the Burnside Bridge and create a suspended walkway on either side, similar to the esplanade underneath Portland's Steel Bridge.

It's a plan Paul believes could work if city, county and state officials work together.

Currently, the city controls the right of way under the bridge, the county controls the bridge itself, and the state controls the river's waterway rights.

It opens up a regulatory morass, Paul said, but notwithstanding, I think it should be on the list.

Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.