Microsoft to open major store in downtown Portland

The former downtown Portland Macaroni Grill location is being remodeled to house a Microsoft retail store.

Microsoft Corp. will soon open a retail store in downtown Portland.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant has leased the former Romano?s Macaroni Grill space, 300 S.W. Yamhill St. at Pioneer Place.

Microsoft is identified as the future tenant on a plumbing permit associated with construction work to turn the 7,000-square-foot restaurant space into a retail shell.

General Growth Properties secured several permits, including demolition and renovation permits, in December to prepare the space for a future tenant. Work has begun and includes metal-framed walls extending into the sidewalks along both Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Yamhill Street.

Microsoft itself apparently has not submitted its own plans. It is not known when the store will open.

The addition of a permanent Microsoft store, coming on the heels of Apple?s expansion into Pioneer Place?s former Saks Fifth Avenue Space, is a welcome one-two punch for the downtown retail scene.

The prominent Portland restaurant space has been empty since September, when Vancouver-based Waterloo Restaurant Ventures Inc. pulled the plug on its restaurants on the West Coast.

While larger restaurant spaces have been tough to sell, few expected the Macaroni Grill space to stay dark for long.

Microsoft has only recently ventured into opening stores. It opened a series of 33 pop-up locations for the holidays, including a kiosk flagging its Surface tablet at Portland?s Washington Square mall.

It later said it would keep some of the stores, but provided no other details about its plans.

Portland Business Journal readers can read more about the forces driving downtown?s retail revival in Friday?s print edition.

Wendy Culverwell covers real estate, retail and hospitality.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_44/~3/KvKKYgGplhg/microsoft-to-open-major-store-in.html

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