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One of Portland's busiest food pods is on the deathwatch, after paperwork filed with the city of Portland April 18.
WW has learned that architect DLR Group filed an application seeking permission to turn one of Portland's most popular food cart pods into a 177-room, 11-story hotel developed and run by Minneapolis' Graves Hospitality.
Among other longtime carts including the Dump Truck and Savor Souphouse, the downtown Alder food cart pod between 10th and 11th Avenues—next to the block-sized pod between 9th and 10th Avenues—is currently home to the original Nong's Khao Man Gai.
The cart pod property—as with many parking lots downtown—is owned by Downtown Development Group's Greg Goodman, who is also co-owner of the Multnomah Whiskey Library.
Update 7:40 pm: DLR did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Goodman tells WW that he and Graves Hospitality are only in the talking stages at the moment, and that any action would be at least a year out even if Graves' interest in the property solidifies.
In February 2016, Goodman publicized an ambitious plan he called the Ankeny Blocks, which earmarked a number of properties for development, including downtown's oldest cart pod at Southwest 5th Avenue and Stark Street.
Related: Portland's Oldest Cart Pod May Be Replaced by Giant Apartment Building
At the time, Goodman told WW that any development of those blocks would be a long, slow process—with ample time for food carts to adjust.
“You’re not going to wake up one day and see the parking lots all gone at the same time,” Goodman told WW then, saying that anytime he developed a surface parking lot, he planned to upgrade another westside surface lot with the ability to house food carts.