We love it when we can present positive updates to past coverage. Case in point: the Emerson Street Garden proposal, which we reported on last April and which is coming ever closer to fruition. The site at Northeast 8th and Emerson streets has been sitting vacant for decades, its soil contaminated by lead and other toxins. But as Sentinel reporter Cassandra Koslen discovered nearly a year ago, Groundwork Portland and the Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust (OSALT) are working with the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on a unique experiment to determine if the lead can be removed or more thinly distributed with plants. The desired result is soil safe enough to support a community garden.

We just saw an announcement today (via King Neighborhood Association) from Groundwork Portland inviting citizens to a meeting next week to "help come up with a community outreach and engagement strategy for Emerson Street Garden." Looks like the soil-saving idea is alive and well. We'll check back in with Groundwork Portland and bring you updates as they arise. Date and time: March 16 from 4-6 p.m. at the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, 4815 NE 7th Ave.

Project at 8629 N. Crawford St.
Cathedral Park neighbors have been closely following a new multi-lot development near the intersection of North Burlington and Salem avenues.

Three-story multifamily condominiums with two or three bedrooms each will be going in at 8629 N. Crawford St., according to Jerry Offer, a planner for Otak Architects. Offer referred additional questions to the Otak architect on the project, Sinan Gumusoglu, but Gumusoglu did not respond to The Sentinel’s request for details.

A total of three lots and 18,000 square feet of land at the location are listed as belonging to East Coast-based M&T Bank and Chesapeake Holdings West, LLC. There is as yet no name for the project.
Barbara Quinn, chair of the Friends of Cathedral Park Neighborhood Association, heard that Otak is simply designing the condos for the out-of-town owners. She hopes that Otak will answer neighbors’ concerns at the next association meeting. With permits still pending, she feels there’s time to make sure the designs fit with the neighborhood.

Where is the Grant Warehouse you ask? Nowhere. The building formerly known as the Grant Warehouse was demolished over 5 years ago, but once sat on NE MLK just south of NE Freemont. The site is now tentatively slated for development as mixed income housing (see below). The warehouse went through a number of uses in it's day. Before it was condemed it was said to have housed a illegal gold extraction operation. The EPA and City spent considerable time and money cleaning up the site.  But the property has sat vacant and un-redeveloped for years.

Just saw this lil' bit o' news over at the King Neighborhood Association site:

The Miracles Club, a social club for people in recovery from drug addiction on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. is due to see ground broken on its new facility on the east side of the boulevard soon. In connection with the move, a Good Neighbor Agreement between the club, the immediate neighbors and King Neighborhood Association was in the works for many months. After negotiations broke down between the immediate neighbors, Miracles, and city planning officials last winter, the process was sent to mediation. So far, one meeting has been held between mediators, an immediate neighbor, members of Miracles, NECN, and KNA. A court ruling last year prohibited the blocking of all traffic from the site to Grand Avenue. The working group hopes to identify the remaining negotiable issues and prioritize them so that negotiations can proceed constructively.

When do you expect to open? 
"About two months ago," said Steve Mason, the owner of Maui's at 3508 N. Williams Ave.  The bright green building is just north of the intersection of North Williams Avenue and Fremont Street. "We hope to be open any day now."

Inside there are two pool tables, a lot of hand tools, a bar ready to hold 15 beers on tap, and three Hawaiian-themed murals on the walls.  

"Maui is my dog," said Mason. Mason says he has been in Portland for the last three years, but he was in the bar business in Hawaii for 25 years. This year, he felt it was time to open his own place in Portland. The name and the look of the interior speaks more to Mason's personal past than to his vision for the business. "There's no tropical drinks or anything. It's just a neighborhood bar."

By William Crawford

Mike Warwick, land use chair for the Eliot Neighborhood Association, says residents favor streetcar development, but he remains concerned about potential impacts on the neighborhood. 

Last month City Council voted unanimously in favor of the final draft of the Streetcar System Concept Plan, laying out promising corridors for expansion. The decision marks the end of a lengthy process including neighborhood outreach and technical vetting that resulted with eight routes remaining.

One issue, at least, is off the table—the streetcar route is slated to possibly expand up MLK from Broadway to Killingsworth and not via a Vancouver/Williams couplet, as Warwick had feared.

Lotsa news from the King Neighborhood blog today. First up: St. Andrews Church on the corner of Northeast 8th Avenue and Alberta Street has generated sufficient funds to break ground this month on its new community service center, out of which the church will run its safety net programs for needy residents. Additionally, the St. Andrews staff plans to make significant improvements to existing facilities, making all buildings ADA accessible and even adding an eco roof to one building. The projects are made possible through St. Andrews' capital campaign and a significant grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 20 at 11 a.m. in the church parking lot.

Also in the news: plans for the new development on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Skidmore Street are taking shape. The former Lutheran services site and current home of Albina Head Start is now slated to be an education- and family housing-based project. More on the project, an upcoming design review meeting, and how you can be involved below the cut.