The first Chick-fil-A within the Portland city limits will open in a former strip club, The Venue Gentleman’s Club. The fast food franchise obtained permits last year to convert the building, which has a history of violent incidents, into a fried-chicken sandwich restaurant.
In October, the city approved plans to alter the building’s roof and facade, rebuild the main entrance, and add landscaping to the parking lot, where two men were shot earlier this month. Surprisingly, Chick-fil-A did not propose adding a drive-thru for the location between Southeast Stark and Washington streets, near I-205.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, the shooting occurred around 5:30 p.m. on April 1 in the 9900 block of Southeast Stark Street. The Venue is the only business in that block, and TV news reports indicated a body and shell casings were visible in the club’s parking lot. Officers responded and found a deceased male, identified as 32-year-old Camel Harris, along with a still-unidentified second victim who was injured by gunfire and taken to a nearby hospital, according to police. The coroner ruled the shooting a homicide.
On April 15, 28-year-old Dekota Reed Harris was arrested in connection with the shooting. Harris, who has a 2014 previous assault conviction in Multnomah County, faces accusations of second-degree murder with a firearm, attempted murder, and first-degree assault. Camel-Harris’s death marks the city’s 25th homicide of the year.
Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to an email requesting more information. In June 2020, The Venue was the site of a shooting that left one person injured.
The longtime strip club sits just east of I-205, “only six minutes from Portland International Airport,” according to its website. Reached last year, a club representative told The Oregonian/OregonLive that any changes to The Venue wouldn’t take place “for at least a year.” The club hopes to relocate once Chick-fil-A takes over.
Though the Hazelwood location would be the first in Portland proper, it won’t be the first in the metro area. In 2016, the chain returned to Oregon with a Hillsboro restaurant, setting up a potential culture clash between local LGBTQ activists and the company, which had opposed same-sex marriage through donations and statements made by CEO Dan T. Cathy. In 2019, the company announced that it had stopped donating funds to two Christian charities.
The company currently operates eight Portland-area locations in Hillsboro, Beaverton, Clackamas, Gresham, and Vancouver, Washington. Additionally, Chick-fil-As can now be found in Salem, Grants Pass, and Bend.
