No Vacancy
DISTRICT STRATEGY Client: Field Ventures (internal initiative)
Location: Portland, OR
Year: 2024 - 2026
Partners: Lloyd Enhanced Services District, Old Town Community Association, Metro Region Innovation Hub, Prosper Portland, elle Gallery, Wieden + Kennedy
Overview
Many cities are known for their monuments: the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge. Portland is known for its neighborhoods – low, livable, and clustered around quirky retail. But retail is suffering. The shift to hybrid work, the rise of e-commerce, and macroeconomic instability have wiped out many of the businesses that animated Portland’s ground floor.
What if we looked at vacant ground floor retail spaces in a new way – not as blight, but as opportunity? No Vacancy is a transformative program that activates this abundant resource, with a focus on neighborhoods that need it most.
What We Did
We built a playbook to systematically tackle vacancy – then put it to work. Neighborhood analysis to understand character and inventory available spaces; engagement with the community, property owners, and businesses; matchmaking through a digital platform; small business support on technical, financial, and logistical barriers; and programming activations and events that generate street-level energy. No Vacancy is focused on translation across stakeholder groups that are typically disconnected or at odds, and on critical mass, bringing together cohorts for mutual benefit.
What We Made
Tenant matchmaking program, grant funding and technical assistance pipeline, business planning tools, Window Gallery, street food festival, art events, and a replicable community partnership framework designed to scale to other neighborhoods and cities. Collaboration with Wieden + Kennedy on the brand identity. The inaugural No Vacancy Window Gallery launched in Old Town in Summer and Fall 2025 – curated by Lauren LeSueur of elle Gallery and in collaboration with the Old Town Community Association.
Impact
Thousands of people attended No Vacancy events, and dozens of Portland businesses participated in the Old Town and Lloyd programs. No Vacancy is designed for replication. The model can expand to other Portland neighborhoods and other cities. We are embedding insights from the No Vacancy Pilot Project into subsequent work on system-change initiatives. Empty storefronts are full of potential – and the first step is lighter and faster than most people assume.
