New Food Cart Pod Planned for 245 SW Salmon Street in Portland

245 SW Salmon Street, which is a parking lot and a big hole where the Hotel Albion used to be. Pictured are buildings, cars, and pavement. — The demolished building’s footprint is where the Jersey barriers are; parking is implemented on the other part of the property. Photo credit: Google.

I recently learned that there are plans for a new food cart pod in downtown Portland. The location is, as indicated in the subject line, 245 SW Salmon Street. Right now it serves mostly as a parking lot but for many years the property was home to the building that housed the Hotel Albion and Lotus Cardroom and Cafe.

The Albion Hotel and Lotus Cardroom and Cafe

As I mentioned above, the original occupant of the building that was on this site was the Hotel Albion. It opened in 1906 and the Lotus Cardroom and Cafe opened in the hotel in 1924. Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933, so it operated during that time as a soda bar.

Still, it likely served alcohol—at the time, Peter Richen was in charge, and “Pete did his best to keep his customers from getting too parched,” according to the McMenamins. There you could also find a restaurant, card room, pool tables, and a cigar stand.

It was also rumored to be operating an underground brothel during the Depression, and was first legal gambling site in Portland. Some believe the basement was haunted.

The Lotus Cardroom and Cafe closed in 2016, its cherry wood bar now lives at the Back Stage Bar located behind the Bagdad Theatre. In 2018, the building was demolished to make room for a mixed-used project—office building and hotel—that never happened. So, today it is a parking lot and a big hole, with changes to come.

245 SW Salmon Street Development

The property was purchased back in December 2024 by Master Development out of Eugene. No sale price is indicated but the consideration amount was listed as $202,437 as of June 11, 2025. Portland Maps lists the market value of the 14,500 square foot parcel as $4,350,000.

The plan to address the hole on the property that was the basement of the demolished building is in process. They’ve filed a permit for it, with these details: “In the 50′ x 100′ southwest portion of the site, an approximately 9′ deep basement hole left from a building demolition in 2018 will be filled in.”

Parking at 245 SW Salmon Street

And then there is the subject of parking. I expect some would like to know if parking will be removed when the food cart pod is established. More details from the permit:

“A roughly 30′ x 100′ area at the northeast portion of the site had previously been paved and used as surface parking, but the paving was demolished in 2018 to facilitate the construction of a new 10-story half block office building between 2nd and 3rd along SW Taylor. This portion of the site will be re-paved and used as additional area for food carts. The remaining area of the site will continue to be used as a surface parking lot.”

So, parking won’t go away completely. In speaking to the Portland Business Journal, Steve Master, the principal of Master Development, confirms it.

Related: 1900 SW 5th Avenue Pod

Master Development is also behind the development of the food cart pod at 1900 SW 5th Avenue, a 20,000 square foot property on the PSU campus. They have partnered with ChefStable for this project.

At that pod there will be the Extra Credit bar, located inside the old bank building. It makes me think a bit about The Heist in SE Portland, which took over an old US Bank building plus its parking lot. Extra Credit has an Instagram account. The name of this pod is unknown at the writing of this article, though it expects to accommodate up to 20 carts, according to the Portland Business Journal.

At this point, it looks like the most recent permit for the SW Salmon Street project—which focuses on paving the lot for the carts, plus a reference to filling in the big hole—is at the Design Review stage in City of Portland permit-land. They set up that permit on May 7, 2025 and its status is pending. I looks like a city planner is still reviewing things. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Unnamed Food Cart Pod
245 SW Salmon Street, Portland