Glisan Station Food Cart Pod Is Being Built in Gresham

A new food cart pod called Glisan Station is currently in development with plans to open in the Wilkes East neighborhood in far west Gresham (bordering on Northeast Portland). It’s in the early stages right now, and the hope is for it to open by the end of the year. I spoke with Abera Abu, who is developing the pod, and here is what I’ve learned.

Glisan Station: The Basics

Despite what Google Maps tells us, this project is in Gresham. I think it’s weird that they mix it up, but there is nothing I can do about it except correct it here. The address of the pod will be 17905 NE Glisan Street, on the north side of the street, almost to NE 181st Street; a strip mall and an Albertsons supermarket is across the street.

Before the development of the pod, there was a house built in 1938 on the property—which happens to be about two-thirds of an acre.

The property sold for $680,000 on Halloween 2024. If you’re curious, you can see some of the demolished house’s interior on this Redfin site.

Glisan Station plans to have 22 carts, an indoor bar space with a full cocktail bar, some outdoor seating, and a kids’ space. Coffee and ice cream are also in the plans.

Experience and Permits

Abera Abu has done a variety of things in his life, and home remodeling is one of them. That will be a help as he puts together the pod, which is his first project of this kind. He would like to build additional pods, too.

“We’ve been going back and forth with the city [of Gresham], and we’re almost getting approved in some of the areas,” explained Abera. The permits are for the permanent structure with the bar and seating. “I will be hopefully complete the project sometime at the end of December, if everything goes well,” said Abera.

One of Each at Glisan Station

I asked Abera if he was planning on going with a current practice I’ve seen at other pods—Fremont Garage, Brooklyn Carreta, and The Callback come to mind—of no duplicate cuisines there at the pod. He responded, “Yes, because I don’t want there to be competition among the carts.” He thinks the variety and diversity of food options will be a draw for potential tenants, and will allow the carts to thrive.

Location

While some in Portland may see this location as kind of far out there, Abera disagrees. Glisan Station joins two other pods past 148th Avenue: Chop Chop Food Pod and Food Cart Heaven. Also east of I-205 are The Pod on Halsey, Ala Carts, and 122nd Carts; in Gresham there’s the Gresham Food Carts.

Abera thinks that this property is strategically located—there are apartment complexes, shopping centers, some employment centers nearby, all of which are in his pod’s favor. They plan to include 17 or 18 off-street parking spots, which will be appealing to drivers, who I imagine outnumber pedestrians and transit users in this part of Portland.

Arrangement of the Space at Glisan Station

Regarding how they plan to situate things there at Glisan Station, “We’ll have a bar and an interior eating area—all three sides of the building will be covered,” said Abera. This means the fourth side will be open, and I imagine possibly with some kind of roll-up door there to protect the space from the elements, but we’ll have to wait and see. In my mind’s eye I see similar (but not identical) setups at Brooklyn Carreta and the 1847 Food Park in Milwaukie.

He mentioned that between the building and a line of seven or eight carts there will be covered seating. “There is a cover from the building going over to the food carts on one side of our building,” explained Abera. “We’re building a roof over that set of food carts where people could be walking underneath, ordering their food, and sitting in that area.” The walkway would be about 15 feet wide.

They plan to have some green spaces on the northeast side of the property where people can enjoy themselves, especially in the spring and summertime. They’ll have a covered area there, too, so even in the wintertime you can choose alfresco dining, if you like.

Abera is looking forward to creating something great in Portland. As he says on the website, the pod is “For the people, for the neighborhood, for the city.” I’ll keep an eye on it.

Glisan Station [projected opening late December 2026]
Glisan Staton website | Instagram