BUILDING SALEM: Former Green Thumb storefront to become “Retro Electro” retail, apartments
Editor’s note: Building Salem is a new twice-monthly feature from Salem Reporter intended to highlight planned building projects around the city. Is there a building going up you’re curious about? Let us know by emailing [email protected].
Name: Retro Electro
Project type: Renovation and new construction, apartments and retail
Location: 236 Commercial St. N.E. (downtown)
Cost: $5 million, including $1.3 million building purchase
Estimated completion: 2025
Units: 16 apartments, a mix of studio, 1 and 2 bedroom, all market rate
Description: The former home of Green Thumb florists, also known as the England-Wade historic building, is getting a facelift.
The storefront has sat vacant since the garden store moved out last year. The historic 1887 building will be renovated to host a combination laundromat-bar and other retail, with four apartments on the second floor.
An adjoining corrugated metal “shed” facing Electric Alley, which wasn’t being used, will be demolished and replaced with a 12-unit apartment building. Wood from the demolition will be salvaged for reuse elsewhere.
The new building will also feature a rooftop deck for residents.
It’s the latest project of Salem developer Charles Weathers, who’s also behind the Fork Forty food hall, and the renovation of the former Whitlock’s store that’s currently underway at 455 Court St N.E. (The laundromat-bar was originally slated for the Whitlock property on Court Street, but Weathers said it was a better fit on Commercial Street.)
The apartments will have alley access. The alley is one of the most dynamic in downtown Salem, featuring the Cozy Taberna and Flowers in the Alley.
“Everything’s cooler in an alley,” Weathers said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
