Congress Street has long been the commercial hub for the city of Portland. It's where you'll find City Hall, Monument Square, the public library and the Arts District, as well as many shops and restaurants.
But vacancy rates downtown have risen considerably in recent years, while just a few blocks away the city's Bayside neighborhood is sprouting breweries, coffee shops, fitness centers and housing developments.
The Bayside Neighborhood Association this summer hosted a celebration to recognize the revitalization of one of Portland's most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
Association President Tom Blackburn said that for years Bayside, home to a large concentration of social service agencies, was the least developed part of the Portland peninsula. But that's changing.
"East Bayside has I don't know how many breweries but it's booming. So, there is just this influx of business that is great. It's providing some diversity, some income, some growth opportunities, things of that sort," Blackburn said.
City records show more than 55 new breweries, cannabis shops, restaurants and a gym have been licensed in Bayside in just the last two and a half years.
A new fitness club that opened in May, Salud, has expanded its Pilates and other fitness classes to meet demand from members.
Dorienne Lewin, Salud's owner, said she started the business in a smaller space six years ago, but outgrew it and built out the 15,000-square-foot former World Gym space in Bayside with funding help from the city and other partners.
"It's grown so fast. Word of mouth. People come off the street. We've added 60 more classes," Lewin said.
The city also provided a $10,000 job creation grant to Belleflower Brewing in East Bayside, so they could hire an additional production worker to help them ramp up distribution during the slow winter season.
"Having an extra person in the production space during that time period, it takes pressure off the entire team. Having that resource has been awesome," said Nick Bonadies, co-owner of Belleflower Brewing.
But just a few blocks away Congress Street is peppered with empty storefronts. At one point this summer the vacancy rate reached 18%, more than three times the average for the area.
Landlord Ed Gardner said Congress Street has struggled in recent years with an unhoused population, some sleeping in storefronts. He said it drove one of his long-time tenants, who operated a specialty spa, to leave Portland altogether.
"She would come to me weekly to say, 'I can't walk out my back door without finding 20-30 needles every night. The workers aren't feeling safe. They can't get out the back door because there's people using drugs,'" Gardner said.
There are now efforts underway to revitalize the downtown, and fill some of the empty storefronts.
In July the nonprofit group Portland Downtown launched a Downtown Ambassadors program to clean up trash, needles and graffiti between the city's popular Old Port District and Congress Street.
One day recently, ambassador Frankie Opute was painting over graffiti while his colleague power washed outside the Cross Insurance Arena.
"So, I'm just going around and looking for graffiti or something to paint. I believe we should work together to make Portland sparkling," Opute said.
The city is taking other steps, such as offering landlords $20,000 interest-free loans to upgrade vacant storefronts. And on Wednesday, the City Council will vote on a vacancy ordinance that would charge a fee to landlords who leave a property vacant for more than six months, unless they agree to install artwork in the vacant space.
The Police Department has set up a new community policing post on Congress Street. And social service groups started a pilot program to distribute food to unsheltered residents in a downtown location away from Congress Street.
Portland officials said that despite the recent doldrums, they are optimistic about the prospects for the Downtown and the for the city as a whole.
"I'm hopeful about the future because there is still a whole lot of development in the pipeline that will cut across a range of opportunities," said Greg Watson, the city's Housing and Economic Development Director.
Watson said he believes commercial and housing development in both the Downtown Arts District and Bayside will have a stabilizing influence on all businesses in the city.
And there may be some signs of change. At least seven new businesses have recently leased downtown vacant properties. Among them are coffee and bagel shops, supper clubs and markets, and a new hotel.
There are more than 7,000 business permits on file for the entire city of Portland.
