Lents neighborhood in Portland has high hopes for light rail

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), May 27, 2009 by Tyler Graf

The Lents neighborhood in Southeast Portland has a lot riding on the new MAX green line.

One- and two-story buildings dot Lents' barren streets. Some residential side streets aren't even paved. The neighborhood, which has a median income among the lowest in the city, has for years needed considerable redevelopment, said Jess Laventall, president of the Lents Neighborhood Association.

He thinks it's finally coming along light-rail tracks.

It's been a decade-long wait, peppered with numerous promises of mixed-use projects from developers and the Portland Development Commission, which manages the city's 11-year-old urban renewal area. With few exceptions, those projects never materialized.

But more than any other promise, the Portland-to-Clackamas green line is arriving tinged with a higher degree of optimism for residents. Redevelopment is more likely than ever.

"(Development) will not happen overnight," Laventall said. "I believe it will be several years for things to fall into place before we can start to see substantial, tangible benefits to Lents."

There is a caveat, however. Some business interests warn that existing companies might not see much of a boost in business.

Those warnings come primarily from Clackamas Town Center, which acts as the southeasternmost terminus for the green line.

Nonetheless, Lents residents and business interests believe their future looks bright because in the last year the PDC has purchased two buildings near the Lents Town Center light-rail station. One was the Architectural Iron Works property, on the north side of Foster Road. The other property previously housed a dance club and a drapery business on Southeast 92nd Avenue.

"Right now, we don't have any definite plans for those properties," said Karl Dinkelspiel, a project coordinator with the PDC. But, he added, the PDC hopes to broker a deal with a supermarket in the future.

The green line makes that more feasible, he added.

Dewey Akers, a longtime Lents resident, said the development emphasis should be on commercial and retail projects.

That, he said, is because Lents' residents have waited for more than a decade for mixed-use development. Only the mixed-use Assurety Northwest building, located within the Lents town center, has been constructed.

The Assurety Northwest insurance company, which employs approximately 45 people, opened its new 30,000-square-foot facility in 2008.

"Maybe we'll finally get that mixed-use development," Akers said, "and not just affordable housing."

But there is skepticism as to whether the green line will mean more opportunities for existing businesses. Paul DeMarco, manager of Clackamas Town Center, doesn't have high hopes for the line, based on past experiences.

Before taking the job at Clackamas Town Center, DeMarco managed a mall in Oakland. And similar to Clackamas Town Center, the mall at Oakland's mixed-use City Center featured a station along the Bay Area's BART light-rail system.

The mall would have done the same business without the BART stop, he said, adding: "It was really only used by commuters ... so I don't know if we'll see an increase in (business) activity (at Clackamas Town Center)."

But it all hinges on whether the green line has the intended effect on outer eastside neighborhoods, such as Lents and its town center, DeMarco said. If that happens, and those neighborhoods develop around the light rail, he can see existing businesses attracting new patrons.

"Our demographics show that a lot of the people in the Lents area shop at the Lloyd Center," DeMarco said. "But if we can get more of those people to jump on the line and come here, that would be great."