Food Cart Pod Opening on NE Fremont Street: Update

The lot that will be home to the food cart pod on NE Fremont Street, as of June 24, 2024

Formerly the location of Barrett Automotive, and soon to be a food cart pod, this property on NE Fremont Street in Beaumont-Wilshire is now a mostly empty lot. I often drive or walk by the property and always gawk at it. The first major phase of demolition has happened already, and I wanted to know what’s next. I chatted with Daniel Silvey of DBS Group, the firm that is developing the pod, to get some updates, and I’m sharing them here.

Delays (Sad Trombone)

First, it looks like their opening is delayed. Originally they thought they could open in summer 2024 (like, now), but a few complications with the city cropped up (“We were ambitious that things would happen quicker than they did,” remarked Daniel), so they have pushed the opening to March 2025.

The Layout

The “tiny building” slated for demolition, which is right up against the sidewalk along NE Fremont Street

On site there is a “tiny building,” about 350 square feet in size, that still needs to be removed. After that is done, what will remain is a 3,000 square foot building on the 8,000 square foot lot. This building will become a location for a cafe and bar, as well as four bathrooms. The plan is for a coffee lounge to operate in the morning, and then a bar starting mid-afternoon, with a partition between the two operations. The removal of this 350sf building also means there will be more room for carts.

The 3,000 square foot building in the back

They’ll be able to offer 50 to 60 seats at the pod. They also have a requirement from the city to expand the sidewalk, so they can use part of of that for sidewalk cafe seating.

They’ve had a lot of interest from food cart owners, and they plan to be selective about the type of cart they’ll have on site (a total of nine carts). They plan to avoid duplicate cuisines among the carts and will try to avoid offering food that is already nearby—like Momiji Sushi next door.

As we move through the calendar year, they’ll be able to slim down that list, choose the carts they’d like to host, and share that with the public.

Why NE Fremont?

A couple of questions that have been on my mind throughout this, are: Why this location? Why Beaumont Wilshire? Aside from it being a great NE PDX neighborhood, the simple fact is that the Barretts reached out to them first. The initial discussion they had was about building multi-family housing on this property (there are already a number of these buildings on NE Fremont Street). But as they looked closer, they saw potential for a food cart pod there and that got them really excited. “Most neighborhoods in inner Portland already have a food cart pod, and this neighborhood didn’t,” explained Daniel.

Speaking of multi-family buildings in the neighborhood, Daniel was involved in developing the property at 5042 NE Fremont. He also grew up eating at Stanich’s (now The Mule Bar).

A Gathering Place

He is very much committed, as he has expressed elsewhere, for this pod to be a gathering space for the neighborhood, “an all-parts-of-the-day, an all-people kind of place.” Not to mention the flexibility inherent to eating at a pod is conducive to a group of friends/family with different tastes. “Pods in general are great for families,” Daniel said. “The kids can have a grilled cheese and the parents can have a burrito. Everybody’s happy.”

He also mentioned they want to have live music—a solo or a duo act, no bands.

As for what the daily hours may look like, they’d like to offer morning coffee from 6am or 7am (neighbors have wished for earlier hours to get their coffee) and maybe a Mexican cart offering breakfast burritos. Night hours will likely end around 10pm, perhaps earlier when during fall and winter.

A Name? Maybe.

And the name of the pod? “We are looking at ‘Fremont Garage’ but that could change.” Personally, I like it, as it echoes the previous automotive repair business at that site.

“We are really excited about this project,” remarked Daniel. “We’ve built a lot of houses and apartments over the years, and that’s great, but this has excited us in a way building housing hasn’t. We’re also happy that people in the neighborhood have reached out to us, who are also excited about this project. The number of people who reached out to help has blown me away. They ask, ‘How can I help?’ We are stoked about the response we’ve gotten from the neighborhood.”