Vanport square business owners are voicing their opposition to PDC plans to redevelop the square. The basic complaint is that the PDC is taking prime real estate on MLK for its pet projects, including a Trader Joes or 24 hour Fitness, a row of townhouses, and a surgerical rehabilitation center without delivering on its promise that these developments will increase foot traffic in the area.
Additionally, it is not clear that there is a market for the townhouses, which is also slowing down the project. This project could be part of the mayor's initiative, through the PDC, to bring upscale grocery stores to neighborhoods that don't have them as a part of the city's urban renewal goals. However, as local business owners opine, it is unlikely that a Trader Joes, a surgical facility, and some vacant townhomes, will cause more foot traffic to move to Vanport Square.
I question whether the PDC really has the best interests of existing business owners in mind for this project, or whether this is just an attempt to gentrify Alberta all the way west to MLK, at the expense of local businesses like the Horn of Africa and Old Town Pizza, which has existed in that neighborhood for years.
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