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Blue-collar-branded burger shop Tilt—a home to large tap lists and towering burgers, with locations on Swan Island and in the Pearl District—is finally moving forward with plans to open its third location at the east end of the Burnside Bridge. It first announced these plans in February 2014.
But the new Tilt will not be in the RJ Templeton Building, as initially planned. Tilt owner Octavian Jurj spent over a year renovating the interior of that building, and a Tilt sign still hangs over the sidewalk.
Tilt has instead signed a lease directly across the street from its former planned location—at the Yard, a 21-story mixed-use apartment behemoth currently taking shape across East Burnside Street.
Yard owners Key Investments announced the burger-shop deal today in an email. In the same email, Jurj wrote about his excitement for Key's "deep understanding of Portland history and culture."
The move across the street follows a history of legal strife between Jurj and his former landlords. In February 2015, Willamette Week was first to report that Tilt had been served an eviction notice in the RJ Templeton Building, asserting nonpayment by Tilt.
"Over the past months, we've assured client that tenant will make past due payments, in accordance with lease, terminates lease effective Feb. 7," read the notice. "Any payments after date shall be credited to outstanding amounts due to the lease."
Over the phone with WW, Jurj denied those claims—saying the eviction notice was a "left field" response to ongoing disputes between Jurj and landlord NFN Investments about who was responsible for building upgrades.
It appears the two sides never reached an agreement. (Jurj could not be reached immediately for comment.)
The new Tilt location in the Yard apartments across the street will be 4,000 square feet, and will face Northeast 2nd Avenue, right by the historic Burnside Skatepark—leading to an interesting juxtaposition of the blue-collar burger joint and the no-collar skaters who worry the new developments may be a threat to the skatepark's future.
Tilt is planned to open in the summer of 2016—the same time the 284-unit complex will begin renting out its apartments. In accordance with Tilt's motto—"handcrafted burgers, built for the American workforce"—57 of those units are designated as "workforce" housing, priced for families making up to $44,340 a year.
Willamette Week