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The City of Portland, Oregon

Environmental Services

working for clean rivers

Phone: 503-823-7740

Fax: 503-823-6995

1120 SW 5th Ave, Suite 613, Portland, OR 97204

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Tabor Commons (2008)

Tabor Commons beforeAddress: 5633 SE Division Street
Date of site approval: 2008
Acreage: 0.32
Zoning: Commercial

A service station operated on this site on the corner of SE 57th and Division, across from Atkinson Elementary school, from about 1928 until 1987. After that, it became the Clinton Park Market.

In 2005, the U.S. Marshals Service seized the property because of illegal drug trafficking on the site. The Marshals Service transferred the property title to the Tabor Commons afterSoutheast Neighborhood Uplift Neighborhood Coalition (SEUL) in 2006.

In April 2005, neighborhood leaders worked with a team of graduate students at Portland State University's Master of Urban and Regional Planning program to organize and facilitate a design charette and develop a site analysis and resource directory. During the charette, the community worked directly with architects and landscape architects to articulate their priorities in a design concept.

The Brownfield Program conducted a Phase II environmental site assessment on the property and found contaminants in the soil related to petroleum. Environmental consultants working with the Portland Brownfield Program prepared an Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA) to outline potential approaches for cleaning up the property in preparation for redevelopment.

Neighborhood leaders worked with the Portland Brownfield Program and the State of Oregon Economic and Community Development Department to secure grant resources for environmental cleanup. Underground storage tanks and contaminated soil were removed in the summer of 2008.

After cleanup, Café au Play opened for business and served the community from 2006-2015. SE Uplift is in the process of deciding what will happen with the space.