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A letter from the director of Prosper Portland to the principals of a failed athletic-shoe manufacturing incubator in the Old Town neighborhood sheds more light on when and why the city finally lost patience.
As WW has reported, the ambitious shoe manufacturing project called Made In Old Town secured a $7 million loan from the city’s economic development agency, Prosper Portland, in early 2025. With that loan, the project’s principals purchased twin buildings in Old Town, promising to fill it with local shoe designers and manufacturers and eventually expand the project into a nine-building campus.
But in February, after months’ worth of warning signs that the project was floundering, Prosper Portland finally pulled the plug. A Feb. 19 letter from Prosper’s director, Cornell Wesley, offers some insight into the agency’s breaking point.
“I am writing to you directly to address urgent developments regarding the Project and the above-referenced Loan,” Wesley wrote to the project’s trustee, Greg Bui. “It has come to our attention that Liz Rodgers, the Project’s Executive Director, has abruptly resigned from her role. We did not receive formal notification when this occurred, and we do not know the date she resigned.”
Wesley wrote that Rodgers’ departure, “occurring while the Project is already facing significant challenges, creates a high degree of insecurity for us as Lender” and that the agency “cannot effectively evaluate the Project’s path forward without understanding the stability of its leadership.”
Two days earlier, on Feb. 17, WW reported that Rodgers had abruptly resigned without explanation. She nor Made In Old Town responded to a request for comment at the time.
Wesley demanded that the project explain the reasons for Rodgers’ resignation and how the project would steer itself as it sought new leadership. He also wrote that a scheduled meeting the following week was a “critical juncture” given that MiOT was already in material default of the loan for not raising the private funds it had promised.
“Prosper Portland staff have actively engaged with the MIOT team, both before and after the June 30 deadline, and have monitored your team’s efforts to deliver on MIOT’s original, core promises: first, its promise to repay Prosper Portland, and second, its promise to deliver the Project our Board and Portlanders generously supported,” Wesley wrote. “Please come prepared to demonstrate how you intend to resolve the current default.”
According to Prosper spokesman Shawn Uhlman, Made In Old Town never did respond in writing to Wesley’s letter.
Prosper has remained vague in public statements about what’s next, but Wesley said in February that repossession of the buildings is on the table.
When WW asked if Prosper expects MiOT to repay the loan in full, Uhlman said in a statement: “Any decision to accept less than full payment can only be made by our board. Until such a decision is made, our expectations for repayment are as set forth in the loan documents.”
Made In Old Town did not respond to a request for comment.
