Trader Joe's on MLK: Northeast Alberta Street and MLK boulevard

Trader Joe's pulled the plug on a proposed store in Northeast Portland on Monday.

(Casey Parks/The Oregonian)

is backing away from a development in Northeast Portland, company officials said Monday.

"When it comes to choosing Trader Joe's store locations, we are deliberate and work hard to develop store sites with great potential for success," a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Oregonian Monday morning.

While the company views the area south of Vanport Square in Northeast Portland as "a great neighborhood," Trader Joe's "will not be opening a store in the area," citing "negative reactions from the community."

"We run neighborhood stores and our approach is simple: if a neighborhood does not want a Trader Joe's, we understand, and we won't open the store in question," the statement read.

a California-based developer, had hoped to build the Trader Joe's store. The $8 million development included plans for 4-10 adjacent retailers and a 100-space parking lot on the two-acre site. The Portland Development Commission's board approved selling the land to Majestic for roughly $500,000. A recent property tax appraisal indicated if developed with market-rate housing, the property would be worth $2.9 million.

On Monday, the PDC and Mayor Charlie Hales' office issued a joint release. "We respect today’s decisions by Trader Joe’s and Majestic. We appreciate the various concerns raised by neighbors and other stakeholders, both in favor of, and opposed to, this project."

But overall, the news Monday is "a loss for the city and particularly for Northeast Portland," city leaders said. The release said they recognized all the hard work from Majestic Realty to make the project come to fruition. Hales and PDC officials also touted the selection of Portland-based Colas Construction, a

"Moving forward, we will be communicating with the various stakeholders: Including those who wanted this development and who were excited about it, and those who didn’t want it to happen. It is too soon to say what comes next for this site. We will work with the full range of stakeholders to determine the next steps. And we remain committed to working with stakeholders to find projects for this and other development sites throughout the city," city officials said.

Phillip Brown, Majestic's vice president of acquisitions and development, said the company "has decided to take a time out on the proposed MLK/Alberta project to allow the PDC and the community at large to continue their dialogue."

Brown continued, "We have had strong support for the project but believe this will allow for more time to discuss and process some of the larger issues at hand. We greatly appreciate all of the hard work that so many have put into this project."

Trader Joe's officials declined additional requests for comment on Monday's announcement.

(At midday, the Portland African American Leadership Forum held a press conference at the Alberta lot to discuss its plans going forward.

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-- Andrew Theen