Portland’s famous food cart pod on Southwest Alder Street, which is facing eviction at the end of June to make way for construction of a Ritz-Carlton hotel, may have a new home along the North Park Blocks.

Aides to Commissioner Chloe Eudaly are hurriedly coordinating the potential move with the Pearl District neighborhood association, nonprofits and business leaders.

Eudaly’s chief of staff, Marshall Runkel, said moving the carts to the blocks between West Burnside and Northwest Davis streets and Northwest Park and 8th avenues could bring new life to the under-used park space.

The move would “be a net positive” for the blocks said Runkel, who provided The Oregonian/OregonLive with mock-ups showing 37 carts may be relocated to streets around the park area.

He stressed the idea is in its early stages and nothing is finalized. Officials are working to iron out the details, including how to supply carts with electricity and what kind of permit to issue for their use in the public right-of-way. Officials in Portland Bureau of Transportation are studying potential meter revenue losses from carts being placed in parking spots.

The project could have hit umpteen stumbling blocks, Runkel said, but has been progressing smoothly with key players lining up to support the carts’ move – or at least not stand in their way.

Stan Penkin, president of the Pearl District neighborhood association, said his group received a presentation on the would-be move and views it as “a very exciting concept.”

“We are generally in favor of it and would like to see something happen,” Penkin said. Having food carts along the North Park Blocks could push back against residents’ perception of the greenspace as “a sketchy area,” he said.

“The North Park Blocks are one of the most beautiful parks in the city, or anywhere for that matter,” Penkin said. “But it’s always sort of had an edge to it.”

Alder Street cart owners have known for months their space was on the chopping block. But their forced move-out date comes just as summer tourism season begins in Portland, making the need for a new space that much more urgent.

“This is important. What’s more Portland than food carts?” said Keith Jones, co-director of Friends of the Green Loop, an initiative to create a six-mile park through inner-city streets that includes the Park Blocks.

Jones has been working with cart owners on the move proposal. Several owners – including one who is expecting a baby – are desperate to find a place to do business, Jones said.

“It’s got to be done by the end of the month,” he said. “There’s no wiggle room.”

Jones said he views the North Park Blocks move as a temporary measure to help cart owners find stability as the city government and civic leaders work out the details of the Culinary Corridor, a plan to have food carts occupy curbside parking spaces in parts of downtown.

Runkel said it’s a sad irony the food carts that helped make Portland a destination are becoming endangered as downtown property values skyrocket and parking lot owners redevelop. “We’re kind of a victim of our own success,” he said.

Greg Goodman, the real estate investor who owns the Alder Street lot, said its redevelopment is part of Portland’s “natural progress.” But Goodman is still a firm believer the carts ought to be saved.

“Portland defined the food cart scene,” he said. “It’s become a bigger than life deal. It’s part of our identity as a city.”

Jones, the greenway advocate, said the situation will only become more common as Portland grows.

“More of these lots are going to disappear,” Jones said. “We need to start asking, ‘Where do we want the carts to go?’”

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com

Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Northwest Park Avenue. It also used the wrong title for Keith Jones. He is co-director of Friends of the Green Loop.