I just got off the phone with Tacee Webb, the store-opening expert who (no surprise) is also one of the forces behind the Local35/Ford pop-up (she think the doors will be open at 11 or so today). In addition, she is working with Portland Development Commission on the incubator project I mentioned was in talks back in March. Located downtown at 10th and Morrison the workspace/showroom/storefront/runway space is set to hold six tenants (Julia Barbee of Frocky Jack Morgan is one of the designers it’s been floated past). Rents for the spaces are rapturously low; like $250-350 low, which as Webb pointed out, is a price that will allow small merchants to survive downtown, where there is more money to be made per square foot than anywhere else in the city (designers’ shop spaces will probably be around 300 sf, incidentally). It’s understandable that Webb has an added personal investment in the project after having bought Seaplane from original owners Holly Stalder and Kate Towers right before the economic crisis, during which the legendary store’s profile dwindled. “That was hard for me,” says Webb. “I always thought somehow Seaplane would come back to life.” The final lineup of tenants in still in the works, but PDC, who is funding the project, is shooting for an ambitious October opening. Either way it looks likely we’ll have an exciting new place to shop for the holidays this year, all the more significant as a long-awaited manifestation of support for Portland’s design community from the city’s development partners.
I think they’re gonna hatch!
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UPDATE! Portland Development Commission says let’s not get ahead of ourselves.