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A former bank branch in Southeast Portland is gaining a splash of bright color and an infusion of Latin American culture.

Portland-based Scott | Edwards Architecture‘s design for the Portland Mercado, a Latino-themed public market, calls for a bright orange, yellow, fuchsia and turquoise facade with murals painted above entrances.

The budget for the $2.4 million project was limited, and renovations to the Portland Development Commission-owned building on the corner of Southeast 72nd Avenue and Foster Road will be minimal. That left a colorful paint job as the best way to transform the building’s appearance and pay homage to Latin American culture, Scott | Edwards principal Lisa McClellan said.

“This needs to be an attractive place that people want to go to,” she said. “We really had to do something that attracts someone immediately, and our main tool kit was color.”

A microenterprise retail model developed by Portland-based nonprofit Hacienda Community Development Corp. will be used for the project. The Portland Mercado, when renovated, will serve as a small business incubator with space for about 18 vendors selling various Latin American foods and products. A portion of the property’s approximate 39,000 square feet will be transformed into a plaza for food carts, and the existing 6,000-square-foot building will become a public market with stalls, tables and storefronts.

“We have (designed) markets before – traditional supermarkets – but this is different,” McClellan said. “I think a lot of what we’re trying to do is provide this base shell and provide ways that it can be personalized.”

It’s the first time Hacienda CDC, which predominantly serves Latinos, has developed a project that isn’t affordable housing.

“We’re working with a population that has a really strong entrepreneurial spirit,” Hacienda CDC spokeswoman Jamie Melton said. “For us, we want to give them that platform to support their families.”

Also, the project will fill a void in the city, Melton said.

“Portland doesn’t really have a hub for culture and commerce like you would have in Latin America,” she said.

While designing the Portland Mercado, Scott | Edwards staffers took inspiration from other Portland buildings with a distinctive Latino flair. These included brightly colored Cuban restaurant Pambiche Cocina & Repostería Cubana in Northeast Portland and equally loud Mexican restaurant ¿Por Qué No? Taqueria in North and Southeast Portland.

Design team members with Latino heritage also brought personal insight to the project. One was Scott | Edwards staffer Roseva Alcerro Saa, who served as an intern while the Portland Mercado was designed. Saa, originally from Honduras, helped choose the colors for the facade. Her inspiration was simple.

“I’m Latin,” she said. “We use a lot of bright, bright colors.”

McClellan said she appreciated Saa taking the lead on the color scheme.

“I probably would have been too timid to do it, but it was the right move,” McClellan said.

Saa’s involvement in the design process also proved valuable when Scott | Edwards staffers shared project plans with potential Portland Mercado vendors. Saa used her knowledge of the project to clearly explain it in Spanish to vendors whose English was limited.

The renovation will involve removal of the ceiling to expose the trusses and bring a sense of openness to the central market hall. The building will otherwise remain unchanged.

“Inside, the vendors are going to be the ones that make the space alive,” Saa said.

Three large retail spaces will have storefronts that face the street and the market hall. Inside, vendors’ table space will be similar to a farmers market, though four 400-square-foot retail stalls will be more permanent.

Since the market stalls will be small, every inch is maximized. Overhead shelves, for example, will double as a place to post a sign.

“These little spaces need to be as flexible and dual-duty as possible,” McClellan said.

Market hall and food cart vendors will share a commissary kitchen space to prepare food. Their patrons will have access to an indoor dining hall in the building’s former bank vault.

“It’s not your traditional food cart pod,” McClellan said. “The really nice thing is you can bring your food inside and eat it.”

Construction is scheduled to start in early June and finish in December or January. Portland-based Bremik Construction is the contractor.