What’s Going on With the Flock Food Hall in Downtown Portland? | Eater Portland

"I've been tracking the proposed Flock food hall on Block 216's ground floor at the Ritz-Carlton—announced nearly a year ago as an olive branch to the displaced Alder Street Food Carts and designed to spotlight existing Portland food-cart businesses—but despite an anticipated November 2023 opening the project never materialized and the Flock team has been largely silent: the email listed on their website bounces and their press team has been tight-lipped. The original lineup included Birrieria la Plaza, Kim Jong Grillin', Sun Rice and several others; since then Kim Jong Grillin' pulled out and relocated its cart downtown (with plans for a Happy Valley spot), Sun Rice opened a Filipino silog stand in a different downtown hotel food hall at the Moxy, and some vendors remain signed on and optimistic (Birrieria la Plaza told me the hall should open “before summer” a few months ago, while Queen Mama’s Kitchen heard mid-May). Block 216 has not released an updated opening date, the hall isn't listed among the building's amenities, and a recent contractor lien from Howard S. Wright claiming more than $25.5 million—while the developer acknowledged the filing and the contractor said it doesn't impact building completion—adds to the uncertainty; I could still see the space unfinished when I walked past in January." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden