It’s no secret: Businesses in Portland’s downtown have been struggling. There is a lot of vacant retail and office space, and foot traffic has been down ever since the pandemic. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the central city had a combined office and retail vacancy rate of 39% according to Costar.

In early 2025, Prosper Portland partnered with the Old Town Community Association to fund a pilot project called No Vacancy to help fill some of the empty storefronts in that neighborhood.

But so far, none of the businesses getting support from the No Vacancy project have actually opened.

The initial idea behind the project was simple: connect business owners to property owners.

“What I’m excited about is for Portland to tackle this universal problem in a way that’s uniquely Portland,” said Matthew Claudel, who co-leads the project. “What does Portland do best? It’s these quirky, creative small businesses. We just really love these neighborhood pockets that just come to life.”

Back in April at a launch party welcoming businesses to Old Town, Rick Nevarez and Alyssa Garcia said they got swept up in the excitement, feeling inspired and energized. They own The Ink Lab, an indigenous apparel company that does custom screen-printed and embroidered designs and heard about No Vacancy during a Northwest Native Chamber mixer.

“All the stars aligned, we were there and they were like ‘hey, check out this really cool project they’ve got coming up.’ So we signed up and here we are,” said Nevarez.

“Yes, this has just been so educational, informational,” Garcia said. “I’m hyped about it. The vibe here is great.”

The Ink Lab needed a new location because the lease at their warehouse space was up, and it seemed like No Vacancy came at the perfect time to help. Originally, the timeline for businesses to be in their new locations and getting ready for grand openings was late summer 2025.

After touring places that needed too many renovations or were out of their price range, The Ink Lab found a perfect spot on the corner of NW Couch and 4th. It has big windows that let in lots of light with space for embroidery and screen printing machines, although it still needs new floors and paint, among other things.

Nearby the new location there are plenty of other vacant storefronts, but scattered throughout them are also quite a few established and beloved businesses. Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade is just across the way. Down the street is Orox Leather Company. And right next door there’s Deadstock Coffee’s former location (Deadstock is moving into the Hoxton Hotel down the block after a decade in Old Town).

“Ink Lab I think is the perfect business or the perfect company to go in,” said Ian Williams, owner of Deadstock. “And when I met them at a No Vacancy like open house thing, there was a big group of people … who were looking to open up down here. And we were all kind of like ‘yeah, I don’t know who’s gonna make it.’”

Nevarez and Garcia said if they do “make it” it won’t be because of No Vacancy. In fact, the program left them without the support they’d been promised. While The Ink Lab was negotiating a lease, the broker No Vacancy connected them with left unexpectedly.

“They failed me and I had to do all that negotiation on my own,” Nevarez explained. “In the meantime … I have things to do, I have to move out of there, so everything was moved into our house. It caused relationship strain. I almost wanted to give up. I was just like I’m done … And I told him that. I was like ‘you actually did me more harm than if I would have just employed a broker because you set me back that far.’”

Claudel said during the pilot program, the most important lessons learned came from what happened with The Ink Lab.

“No Vacancy project was not there for them when they needed it,” Claudel said. “And we’ve learned from that. And that’s how a pilot goes.”

Still, some of the changes that set The Ink Lab back, like a much longer timeline than originally planned, actually helped some members of No Vacancy stay in the program.

Abram Ancina said he wouldn’t have been ready to open a store or even look at a lease in late summer. He plans to open a tattoo shop called Como la Flor with a focus on filling a void for walk-in, late-night or Spanish-speaking customers.

And Ancina said he feels supported and inspired by people he’s met through No Vacancy, especially The Ink Lab.

“Those people, they have the fire in them which helps me have the fire in me,” Ancina said. “Because if not, we would feel very alone out here. And it’s cold and wet and Portland-y, you know. And on top of that you’re like ‘aw man is this gonna work? Is this not gonna work?’ But we’re all trying to, we all want to see each other succeed too.”

He’s hoping to get the keys to a space at NW 6th and Davis in February, but doesn’t know when Como la Flor might open.

By the end of 2025, No Vacancy had three businesses with leases signed and four more in the process of negotiations, according to Claudel. No grand opening dates have been set yet.

“We’re excited to see tenants moving in,” Claudel said. “We thought it was going to be this lock-step process where everyone was going through those leasing discussions at the same time and that we would do a grand opening. And you know, the best laid plans are sure to change.”

Prosper Portland is waiting to see the results of the first year of the project, but they’re tracking a few metrics to measure if it was successful or not, including the number of clients served, the number of spaces tenanted and how much the public invests in the program.

Meanwhile, No Vacancy has started a new partnership across town at the Lloyd Center. They’re hoping to provide businesses at the mall support finding new locations when Lloyd Center closes.

The Executive Director of the Lloyd Enhanced Services District, Keith Jones, said the district hired No Vacancy to try to keep as many displaced businesses in the neighborhood as possible.

“As soon as I started getting into working with property managers and leases and things like that, I quickly kind of realized that we need someone with expertise,” Jones said.

Lisa Abuaf, Director of Development and Investment for Prosper Portland, agreed that local businesses are what keep a neighborhood strong.

“So I think it’s important to both to celebrate the small businesses for being persistent in the face of a number of hardships and offering employment,” said Abuaf. “But they’re also a really key community contributor.”

Rick Nevarez and Alyssa Garcia are still getting ready for The Ink Lab’s grand opening — they’re aiming for February as they continue filling orders through their online store.

“We are custom apparel first and foremost so we constantly are in production,” Garcia said as embroidery machines whirred in the background. “But people are walking by and are already like really nosy. And I love it. It’s just great. We’re happy to be here. I just wish it didn’t take such a struggle.”

Garcia said she thinks No Vacancy should be more specific and straightforward about what kind of support it actually provides.

“Literally just lay that out in black and white and stop beating around the bush,” said Garcia. “Because you’re playing with people’s livelihoods here. This is my life.”

Deadstock coffee owner Ian Willams said Old Town has historically been a community of neglected people: folks who make things work despite difficulties. Facing challenges together makes Old Town resilient.

“We say Portland is a place where small businesses can thrive but really it’s where small businesses can start. The thrive part is a really tough one,” Williams said. “And I don’t necessarily feel like people are told the full story, through many projects, but No Vacancy is also a tough one.”

So regardless of support — or lack thereof — from programs like No Vacancy, when new storefronts open, it’ll be up to the Old Town community to decide if they succeed.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/14/no-vacancy-portland-oregon-old-town/