3 days Ago
Portland High School students eat upstairs at the Portland Public Market House in this 2022 photo. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer, file The owner of the Portland Public Market House said a lack of downtown foot traffic is a major reason why the venue is mostly unoccupied. The Public Market has hosted a half-dozen or more vendors in the past.
Currently, Jamaican restaurant Yardie Ting is the only tenant, taking up most of the first floor, while the second floor has been vacant for several months, according to Bill Chen, who owns the 28 Monument Square building. “After COVID, I think the foot traffic in Monument Square has dropped significantly,” Chen said. “Plus because of high inflation, people are more reluctant to go out to eat.
And a lot of buildings in Monument Square have lost tenants. So we are faced with a people problem, basically. I can’t have people rent in my building if they don’t see the traffic there.
” Yardie Ting moved to the first floor from its second floor location in September. Mr. Tuna closed in the Public Market in April before moving to its new space on Middle Street.
Chen said that leases for the remaining vendors, including Khmer Kitchen on the second floor – which replaced the former Dila’s Kitchen and Pho Huong in 2023 – expired and were not renewed. The organization Portland Downtown hosted the Monument(al) Market for the third season this year, with the aim of bringing more life to the square. The art and food market runs on Fridays through the summer and into mid-September, and averaged eight to 10 vendors a week.
“It did well,” said Portland Downtown Executive Director Cary Tyson. “I saw a lot of foot traffic there.” Tyson said the redesign project of Congress Square likely means some of the events originally planned for that location next year might be held in Monument Square instead, including markets, movies and live music.
Portland Downtown is working with Friends of Congress Square Park to explore possibilities. “That should bring a lot of activation there if all goes as planned,” Tyson said. Chen said his team has been trying to fill the vacancies in the Public Market for a few months now, including reaching out to Food Fork Lab in search of fledgling food businesses looking to launch in a small, manageable space.
“So far, we don’t have much success,” Chen said. “My goal is to have more tenants on the second floor to keep alive this concept of (the Public Market) being an incubator.” As downtown Portland sees fewer office workers, lunch businesses feel a bite We invite you to add your comments.
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