Soon might be your last chance to find a good horse to back at Portland Meadows: An industrial developer has the inside track on the prime North Portland site.

A major industrial redevelopment is planned where the racetrack, which opened in 1946, now operates. A pre-application conference request was submitted Friday to the Bureau of Development Services for the property at 1001 N. Schmeer Road.

An unidentified developer is examining two schemes for the site, according to the BDS conference request. Both call for large-scale industrial redevelopment that would presumably require demolition of the historic racetrack.

The first scheme would center on a 942,000-square-foot warehouse, along with three smaller buildings to the west and additional small buildings scattered along the property’s perimeter. The second option would include a somewhat smaller anchor building of 822,000 square feet, with two buildings to its immediate west.

Potential uses include warehouse, distribution and light manufacturing, according to the BDS document.

The applicant was listed as Lee Leighton, a veteran land-use planner in Mackenzie‘s Portland office. When reached, Leighton said he could neither comment on the project nor identify the developer.

The racetrack is operated by The Stronach Group, based in Ontario, Canada. The company, which acquired Portland Meadows from MI Developments in 2011, did not respond to a call seeking comment. Some of Portland’s large industrial developers either declined to comment or didn’t return calls.

The North Portland site is owned by a series of companies and individuals. The land-use application lists 20 owners. The proposal involves seven parcels totaling 116.8 acres. Of that area, 89 acres are zoned for industrial use. The rest is zoned for employment (22.3 acres) or environmental conservation (5.5 acres).

The area is famously flood-prone, most notably in the devastating 1948 Vanport flood. The flood did approximately $250,000 damage to the racetrack, and hundreds of horses were evacuated.

Portland’s industrial market has sizzled amid strong demand from Internet-economy shippers such as Amazon and UPS. Users absorbed 1.3 million square feet of industrial space during the second quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Industrial space is attracting strong rents, finishing the second quarter at $0.63 per square foot on a triple-net monthly basis, up 14.5 percent from a year earlier.

Another 3.8 million square feet was under construction, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Industrial developers have long complained the Portland-metro area lacks sufficient industrial land to meet demand for warehouses and other uses. Now, one developer is putting on spurs.

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