Portland Development Commission Trying to Sell Six Vacant Acres in Lents

But what about the New Copper Penny?

THE CHEVRON: The PDC bought these properties and tore down their buildings—a drapery outlet and a strip club—to make way for a grocery store that hasn't arrived, in part because the city can't get the owners of a gas station (left, behind the tree branches) to sell.
By AARON MESH

The Portland Development Commission has spent more than $96 million in the past 16 years trying to resurrect the East Portland neighborhood of Lents. As WW reported in January, the PDC wound up sitting on 12 acres, most of them vacant because the city's urban renewal agency tore down the buildings.

Today, the PDC announced it's trying to sell half that property to developers.

The PDC has issued a request for proposals for six properties—most of them located near the corner of Southeast Foster Road and 92nd Avenue, which the agency identified 15 years ago as a "town center" with a grocer, a community center, a bike-rental shop and a bookstore.

The PDC spent $10.3 million to eliminate what it considers "blight" by buying up older buildings and clearing the lots. But that location remains most prominently the location of a nightclub and off-track betting parlor called New Copper Penny. (It's one of the few properties the PDC wasn't able to buy.)

The PDC's announcement today once again offers suggestions for businesses that might locate near Southeast Foster Road and 92nd Avenue. They include "Cheese & Charcuterie," "Urban Farm Supplies" and "Pie and Cupcakes."

Along with the request for proposals, the PDC obliquely refers to the future of the New Copper Penny. Sources tell WW the bar's owner, Saki Tzantarmas, was in negotiations to sell his property to the PDC this summer.

Those conversations don't seem to have worked out, judging from the agency's statement.

"New Copper Penny has been a long standing business in this community," the statement says. "Like any other business and property owner, they will need to make the appropriate decisions for their business. PDC stands ready to assist any of our business and property owners in the Lents Town Center."

Among the properties the agency is trying to convince developers to buy are three vacant lots across Southeast 92nd Avenue from the New Copper Penny. In January, WW described the long history of those properties:

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