By Elizabeth Hayes – Staff Reporter, Portland Business Journal Jul
23,
2024
A new — and fancy — food cart pod is coming to one of the most high-profile spots in Southeast Portland — the former La Carreta Mexican restaurant property in the Brooklyn neighborhood.
The colorful eatery and cantina, where mariachi bands once moved from table to table, was a mainstay for more than 30 years, before shuttering in the summer of 2022, with the triangular-shaped property sitting vacant and in disrepair. A few months later, Garner Moody and his company Lloyd Development scooped up the property, at the intersection of McLoughlin and Holgate boulevards.
Construction is now underway for Brooklyn Carreta, which will feature 18 carts, indoor seating and outdoor seating and a bar, as well as 26 parking spaces. Moody said he expects it to open in the first quarter of 2025.
“We think it will have a very wide draw,” Moody said in an interview last week. “The best element of any good food cart spot is the location, and we feel this is an incredibly good location.”
Hundreds, if not thousands, of cars zoom past the corner each day on their way to and from the Ross Island Bridge, the Central Eastside and downtown Portland.
Moody, who founded Lloyd Development in 2001, has previously developed cart pods at 82nd and Davis and on Mississippi Avenue and Southeast Division and is the general contractor on one opening this fall at 42nd and Hawthorne.
He had considered doing a multi-family project at the site but opted for carts.
“It’s a little harder from a financing perspective because banks don’t like to lend on food carts, but we got it resolved,” Moody said.
The total project cost is $5 million, he said.
The enhanced amenities will make the Brooklyn Carreta carts stand out, he said.
“Most food cart pods in town get the food right but don’t get the amenities correct,” he said. “You’re eating in the rain, there’s no parking, no place for kids. In our spot, we wanted to make a lot of amenities."
In addition to parking, the one-story building will have a bar, a coffee vendor, kids’ area, event space and outdoor seating, some covered and some not.
“I think it will be a good customer experience, so you won’t have to make any sacrifices when you get to a food cart spot,” Moody said.
He’s in talks with vendors, with about six lined up so far, but won't make announcements until leases are signed. The contracts will allow the vendors exclusivity — in other words, just one Thai food or hamburger purveyor.
The McLoughlin project isn’t the only food cart pod in the works for Moody. He’s also creating Foodlandia Hillsboro, with 20 carts near Century High School.