Residents of Argay Terrace and Parkrose Bring Science to the War of Warehouses

Residents of Argay Terrace and Parkrose are not backing down in their fight to stop the wealthy owners of the Minnesota Vikings from building a 260,000-square-foot warehouse on a lot they own in the East Portland area.

A community group, the Parkrose Argay Coalition of Opportunities, is working with a company called Argos Scientific to collect air quality data to determine whether an “environmental justice complaint” should be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency. said it does.

Vikings owner Sigmund Wilf built a sloping concrete warehouse on the site of a huge, empty Kmart store on 122nd Northeast Sandy Boulevard and built Prologis, a San Francisco-based company that ships to Amazon and Home Depot. plans to rent to others.

“Argos Scientific manufactures highly sensitive air quality instruments and deploys monitors in communities,” the coalition said in a press release. “They plan to model the impact of diesel truck pollution from this type of warehouse on parts of Portland that are already suffering from disproportionate amounts of pollution and traffic.”

Wilf’s parcel is across from Parkrose High School and adjacent to a low-income housing development called Hidden Oaks Apartments. The warehouse will be the newest of many in the region. However, the other location is north of Sandy Boulevard. This road juts out to the south and is mainly residential.

The site gained notoriety when the Proud Boys gathered at a far-right festival in August 2021, escalating into a paintball and baseball bat brawl with anti-fascists.

Wilf made his fortune in real estate after taking over his father’s homebuilding firm, Garden Homes. Wilf has owned his Kmart properties under various entities since his 1980s.

“The coalition hopes that property owner Garden Homes will work with the community to find better uses for the former Kmart,” coalition member Angela Baker said in a statement. “Members of the community have expressed interest in the grocery store, additional housing and restaurants, and Parkrose’s school is interested in using the site as her STEM center.”

Neither Garden Home nor Prologis immediately responded to an email requesting comment.

The Portland Development Services Authority said the 2022 statement is still valid.

“At this time, the Department of Development Services and other departments of the city are reviewing the permit application. The application proposes a “New Graded Concrete Graded Semi-Heated Warehouse Building with One Space for Office Tenants” and “Ancillary Site Construction.” doing.