Deepak Saxena says that when he opened his DesiPDX cart at Northeast 15th and Alberta in 2015, he knew the corner—with a Bamboo Sushi and a Barista not far away—was ripe for redevelopment.
So it didn’t come as a surprise when he was told the land was for sale—although learning he had just six weeks to find a new place to serve his cardamom chai chicken and pakora waffles was a shock. Fortunately, he said, the owner of Prost! on North Mississippi, with its thriving food cart pod outside, made him an offer and he happily jumped.
“I really wanted that security of moving somewhere and not having to move again in a couple of years,” Saxena says. “It’s a little frustrating. I know people are moving here and are drawn to Portland because of our food cart pods and our culture. But because they’re moving here, all these food cart pods are being torn down.”
Saxena says business is better at his new location, so ultimately he’s happy with the move. But as Portland continues to boom, cart pods throughout downtown and the city’s inner core are being earmarked for redevelopment, leaving these symbols of Portland’s quirky DIY steez scrambling for new options.
Cart pods are a Portland phenomenon, often placed on surface parking lots as a way for owners to make extra money while they wait for their urban land to be bought up. Closures aren’t new, but recent news of the possible sale of the iconic downtown pod at Southwest 9th and Alder (plans show a 33-story tower) and, one block over, at Southwest 10th and Washington (set to become a 12-story boutique hotel) has cart watchers wondering how the city can strike a balance to keep its pods while also continuing to grow.
