After years as one of NW 23rd Avenue’s most conspicuous dead zones, the long‑vacant lot is finally showing signs of life. Fresh permit filings lay out a mixed‑use plan that would put apartments over street‑level retail, with work targeted toward spring 2027.
According to the Portland Business Journal, permits were formally submitted this month for a mixed‑use project on the NW 23rd block. The paperwork calls for housing above retail and points to a spring 2027 schedule, a notable shift after the block sat empty for much of the last decade, as reporter Sara Edwards detailed.
The property is hardly the only long‑idle spot on the strip. Local coverage has followed a slow parade of empty storefronts and fenced‑off lots along NW 23rd that seem to sit for years before suddenly lurching toward redevelopment. One example: Willamette Week reported last year that developer C.E. John sought permits for 50 apartments over ground‑floor retail on another NW 23rd parcel, illustrating how stalled properties sometimes spring back to life after long holds…