Last month, the Portland Development Commission selected nine businesses that made the grade to obtain grants under its new Halsey Street Pilot Program. They include Color Authority Salon and Spa; Curt’s Ultimate Fitness & Fighting Arts; Furniture Plus; Joseph’s Deli; Kings Omelets; McGillacuddy’s Sports Bar; Namaste Indian Cuisine restaurant; PACS food pantry, thrift store and health clinic; and Shoe and Boot Revival (formerly Gentle Shoe Shop).
PDC’s Gateway Project Manager Susan Kuhn explains that these nine businesses will spend a few months visioning their businesses with PDC contractor Seanette Corkill of Front Door Back. The result will be a business look plan that typically addresses color, merchandise visibility, landscaping and architecture and typically includes a construction plan component, which enables PDC to make individual grant allocations. It is expected that this next visual merchandising design phase will be complete by the end of 2015 and that construction along the affected blocks of Northeast Halsey Street would become visible in the first couple of months of 2016.
Kuhn adds that Portland Bureau of Transportation permitting issues for the changed-use Namaste Indian Cuisine restaurant remain unresolved at press time.
For more information about PDC’s pilot program, contact Susan Kuhn at kuhns@pdc.us or 503-823-3406, or Anne Mangan at mangana@pdc.us or 503-823-2594.
