Skip to main content
- ADDRESS: 2202 E Burnside St.
- YEAR BUILT: 1974
- SQUARE FOOTAGE: 14,950
- MARKET VALUE: $3.75 million
- OWNER: East Burnside Apartments LLC
- HOW LONG IT’S BEEN EMPTY: 4 years
- WHY IT’S EMPTY: Market forces
In January 2020, a couple of months before the pandemic hit, Universal Cycles announced it would move its Portland operations from a sprawling location at 2202 E Burnside St. in the Buckman neighborhood to Beaverton.
That news came as a blow to Portland cyclists, who’d already suffered a series of retail closures.
The shop also stood smack in the middle of one of Southeast Portland’s busiest bike routes: Customers could enter and park on Ankeny Street. It had lots of bike company, too. The venerable Citybikes co-op lies three blocks west. And these days, Bike Portland organizes a collaborative bike happy hour from 3 to 6 pm every Wednesday five blocks east at local hot spots Gorges Beer Co., Ankeny Tap & Table, and Crema PDX Coffee & Bakery.
“It was highly visible on Ankeny, which is one of the most important bike streets in Portland,” says Jonathan Maus, publisher of the Bike Portland blog.
The plan was for the new owner, East Burnside Apartments LLC, to replace the bunkerlike bike store with a 119-unit apartment building and 50 parking spaces. The project would have extended residential development along Ankeny, which has seen two large new apartment complexes and a string of townhomes rise in recent years.
But the project stalled. The permits that East Burnside Apartments LLC applied for in late 2020 went dormant. Campers made themselves at home on the expansive parking lot until the owner put in serious fencing. Last summer, the developers told the Buckman Neighborhood Association that higher interest rates and construction costs had delayed the project.
Then, in late July, according to city records, the LLC, led by Robert G. Johnson, a longtime property manager and developer, restarted the permitting process. Johnson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, but one of the biggest undeveloped parcels in Buckman appears primed for takeoff.
Nick Olson, land use chair for the neighborhood association, says the developers have sketched out an appealing design and been receptive to neighbors’ concerns. He hopes it becomes reality and displaces the blight that’s been festering there since 2020.
“This is/was a really promising project,” Olson says.
Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.