whiffies fried pies cartopia

Customers line up at Whiffies Fried Pies, one of several food carts at the Cartopia pod at Southeast Hawthorne and 12th.

(Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian)

A popular Southeast Portland food cart pod may be headed for redevelopment as an apartment building.



The pod known as Cartopia at Southeast 12th and Hawthorne had assembled a lineup of carts including Perierra Creperie, Potato Champion, Pyro Pizza and Whiffies Fried Pies.



Plans submitted to city development officials describe a four-story apartment building with ground-floor storefronts on the site.



Contacted Wednesday, developer Vic Remmers said he had a contract to buy the site. The lot's owners couldn't be reached.



Remmers said the project was still in its design phase, led by TVA Architects of Portland. The project has been complicated by a sewer line that runs thought part of the site, but he expects the building will include 27 to 30 apartments in an L-shaped building with an outdoor courtyard.



"We're really trying to provide a cool outdoor experience for people to be able to enjoy living in the building or eating at a restaurant," he said.



The building won't include parking. Remmers said he doesn't expect many of the residents to own cars.



"We've really been trying to improve the bike-friendliness of these buildings," he said.



Gregg Abbott, who opened Whiffies Fried Pies at the lot in 2009, said he'd seen pre-development work at the lot in recent months and had expected a sale was in the offing. He said it was disappointing — though maybe inevitable — that food carts like his would be displaced by new development.



"With all the stuff that was happening on Division ... the writing was sort of on the wall that anything that was flat and empty was going to get snatched up soon," Abbot said.



The Oregonian reported last month on plans to turn the North Station food cart pod in North Portland into condos.



Remmers said he was approached to buy the lot. He said his company's practice has been to approach tenants at redevelopment sites about leasing retail space in the new building. But including carts is likely out of the question because of the size of the lot.



Abbott said he hadn't figured out what might come next if his cart were displaced.



"Retire on my Bitcoin money," he said. "Maybe move to Detroit."



-- Elliot Njus