Busy Pearl restaurant can't meet rent hike
Can Font closes despite packed houses
Editor’s Note (May 26, 2025):
An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a statement to Can Font’s owner regarding commercial tax incentives. The statement—suggesting that it was “cheaper, due to current tax laws, to keep the space empty than to negotiate fair rent with a local, small business”—was not made publicly by the owner or restaurant management, and we have found no record of it in any social media post. The owner denies making this statement. The article has been updated to remove the misattribution and clarify the broader context of the claim.
The Spanish fine-dining restaurant Can Font has shuttered its Pearl District location, citing a landlord unwilling to negotiate a sustainable lease. The closure leaves a prime corner of the Cosmopolitan high-rise vacant—and raises questions about a broader trend in Portland’s high-end commercial real estate: empty storefronts by design.
While no public statement from Can Font attributed the decision to tax policy, some in the business and real estate communities have alleged that current tax laws may make it financially advantageous for commercial landlords to keep retail spaces vacant rather than lease them at reduced rates to local tenants. The restaurant’s owner, Vladimir Zaharchook-Williams, denies making or endorsing that claim.
Site Centers, a real estate investment trust company based in Ohio, owns 10 buildings in the Pearl District, leasing to 40 retail and service companies. The company did not respond to a request to comment on this story.
Jim Coates, a resident of The Cosmopolitan, found Can Font’s demise puzzling.
“It caught me by complete surprise,” Coates told the NW Examiner. “It seemed full-to-packed all the time.”
WHAT tax laws? City, county, state, federal? Can you get more specific information about these tax laws?
i walk past can font on my morning walk every day…and was surprised, as were others, to see it had recently closed. allan: i’d love to see some additional/deeper reporting on the tax environment that the building owners apparently blame for making it more profitable to maintain an empty space than an occupied one. if true…IF true:)…that would be a hella story!