Oregon Makers is an occasional series about creators, builders, and makers across Oregon who not only create but contribute to the built environment of Oregon’s cities in creative and impactful ways.

The Phoenix Pharmacy building at the intersection of SE Foster Road and 67th Street, with its rounded brick corner and curved windows, is one of Portland’s most iconic buildings. 

Arduous, hard work thanks to a partnership between the prior owner’s son Matt Froman and Nonetop LLC, helped retrofit it as a beacon for the neighborhood. The nearly century-old architectural gem and neighborhood icon sat victim to deferred maintenance and vacancy for nearly two decades until a few years back when the team brought it back to life.

Without formal training in real estate or development, Matt Froman learned by doing, starting with fixing up his own house and eventually tackling full-scale commercial restoration projects like the Phoenix Pharmacy and the Golden Anvil Block. With a knack for storytelling, a garage-sale-honed eye for history, and a deep love for Portland’s eastside, Matt has become an unexpected (but very welcome) champion of small-scale, incremental preservation. 

His latest project, the Busy Corner in Woodstock, that he recently acquired, continues that legacy. I’ve spoken to folks in the surrounding neighborhood and there’s a lot of excitement that 1. It’s not being torn down and 2. Someone with the chops like Froman can do something cool with it. (And people around there definitely remember its recent past as a wine bar/restaurant.)

In its heyday neighbors would stop in and shop for groceries, but as larger retailers moved in the same old story happened and traffic shifted. Corner stores now have either been demolished or remodeled into residences, making this a rare piece of property.

However, corner stores nestled in residential areas are making a comeback. For instance, Spokane is rolling back zoning restrictions that previously prevented businesses from setting up shop in residential areas. It’s not a new idea but one that is actually, sadly, prohibited in many cities. 

I’ve been a long admirer of the building (it really does stick out in the residential area and you don’t expect it the first time you see it) and have driven past it many times. I’ve also admired the work that Matt has done with the Phoenix Pharmacy, so I contacted him and we chatted a couple of Sundays ago on his plans and vision (hint: he’s looking for the perfect retail tenant). Here’s the edited interview: 

How did you find out about the property? 
Surprise, surprise, through a garage sale. My mom’s friend was asked to do the estate sale for that property because it was an estate. Lynn Pemberton lived there forever. It was her dad, probably mom I assume, that ran the Busy Corner. And then she moved into the building and basically lived there until she passed away and it became an estate.

My mom’s friend knows how I like old buildings and she told my mom. And I was like, “cool, what’s the address?” And I Googled it. I was like, “oh, that’s awesome.”  I’ve driven by it before, but I don’t really remember it. It’s pretty much a 1910 untouched building for the most part in an amazing neighborhood with some land around it that you can do something with. 

What’s the shape of the building? 
It needs some work, the whole backside is dry rotted. There’s still knob and tube wiring in there and a bunch of other things, like a two-hour firewall in the ceiling that needs to be dealt with before it can get online. But, the bones are there. 

But it doesn’t really need that much work if it’s going to stay as a retail spot. However, if someone wanted to change it, turn it into a brew pub or change the occupancy, that opens up a whole other thing with permits. It could get complicated.

Ideally, it would be retail space like a flower shop, a bookstore, something that’s retail occupancy. If someone wants to do a small grocery store, they can do it pretty easily without dealing with a lot of occupancy changes and upgrades. If someone wanted to do something different, that’s where we’d have to talk to the city and architects.

So, the upstairs is zoned for living space and the downstairs is actually still zoned for retail? 
You just can move in. The only thing that needs to be done is the two-hour firewall between the ceiling and on the main floor. We need to basically put two levels of drywall in there and that is, we’ll separate the two structures. It’s already zoned for an apartment upstairs. So, the bottom line is: it’s zoned for that. It’s this little commercial building occupant zone in a residential area, which makes it kind of unique and cool. 

What’s next? 
If anybody’s interested in living upstairs in a two bedroom space that has a little peekaboo view of downtown, they can reach out to me as well as the downstairs will be available for some kind of small retail spot and we can see what that looks like. I’m also looking for neighbors who have any images or paraphernalia (like signage) from the former store.