Oregon City's Main Street Is Being Set Up for a Longer Evening

Until this fall, the meters on Oregon City's Main Street held you to two hours. That is tight for dinner followed by a browse through the shops. The city has now added a third hour. Around the same time, a 1912 theater building at 720 Main got a plan built around "dinner and a show." A science-themed shop signed on for 503 Main, and a 1907 building at 705 Main was approved for a renovation that adds 60% more usable space. Every one of these changes gives people more reason to stay downtown into the evening.

The meter changed first

The City of Oregon City has raised the downtown parking limit from two hours to three. The new limit covers Main Street from 99E down to 13th Street, plus Railroad Avenue and every numbered cross street. The HotSpot parking app and the kiosks have been updated to match, and new digital coin meters show the three-hour limit. The city also turned 22 on-street spaces that had been permit-only into public parking.

The reason matters as much as the change. The City Commission asked staff to look at how downtown parking demand shifted after the Clackamas County Courthouse moved. The goal was to give visitors more time to shop and dine while keeping enough turnover that nobody has to circle for a spot.

What the courthouse took with it

The county courthouse used to sit at 807 Main Street. The new Clackamas County Courthouse on the Red Soils campus opened to the public on May 19, 2025. According to the county, the old building at 807 Main was sold to Level OCC-01, LLC, in a sale that closed February 13, 2025.

The three-hour limit is the city's response to downtown after the courthouse left. The building news this fall shows what may fill the evenings.

720 Main goes back to its first job

The clearest example is at 720 Main St. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that the building opened in 1912 as Oregon City's first vaudeville and movie theater and ran as a theater until around 1950. Over the following decades it housed a series of bars and nightclubs, most recently Pioneer Pub, which closed in February.

In August, West Linn residents Eric and Aden Nepom bought the building for $750,000, according to county property records cited by OregonLive. They plan to open it as First City Theater. The name nods to Oregon City's history as the first incorporated city west of the Rocky Mountains and to The Second City, the Chicago improv theater. Eric founded Infinite Improv 25 years ago, and it will be the theater's resident improv company. Aden's company, Art of Change, will offer communications and public speaking training in the space.

The plans for the 4,000-square-foot building, as reported by OregonLive:

• Tiered seating for roughly 80 to 100 people
• A stage of about 12 by 26 feet
• Classroom space for improv workshops and rehearsals
• A green room
• Beer, wine and snacks

Eric Nepom estimates the renovation will take six months to a year. He hopes to open with a Star Wars parody. The Nepoms hope audiences will make an evening of it by eating at downtown restaurants before a performance. Aden Nepom put it this way to OregonLive:

"There is so much wonderful dining down here, but date night feels incomplete if it isn't dinner and a show. We're really excited to provide the show part of date night."

Dinner and a show is very hard to fit into two hours on a meter. Three hours makes it far easier. Progress updates are posted at firstcitytheater.org.

The rest of the block, address by address

The theater is the headline, but nearby storefronts are changing too. Walking up Main Street by address:

1. 503 Main St. OregonLive reported in October that White Rabbit Book Cafe would close after 12 years. Cognitive Surplus is moving into the space. The Oregon company sells math- and science-themed stationery, apparel and home goods. It started online in 2013, opened its first retail store in Redmond in 2024 and added a shop on Southeast Hawthorne in Portland this summer. Oregon City will be its fifth location. The company's tentative opening is February.
2. 618 Main St. The Ornament Emporium, owned by Christina Oakley, opened in September and sells holiday decor. It gives downtown a Christmas store again just ahead of the shopping season.
3. 705 Main St. On November 2, the city announced that the City Commission had approved a major renovation of this 1907 building, owned by Donna London. The plans call for facade improvements and 60% more usable space without changing the building's scale. No incoming business has been named.
4. 720 Main St. First City Theater, described above.

A few blocks off Main, Pepper Lunch lists a location at 920 7th St.

Cognitive Surplus explained its choice of downtown in terms that fit the street. Hilary Sueoka, who works in sustainability and outreach for the company, told OregonLive: "there were already a bunch of fun nerdy spaces so we thought we'd fit in and add to the street in a nice way."

Why 705 Main is part of the same plan

The 705 Main renovation runs through the city's Adaptive Reuse Building Rehabilitation Program. The program offers forgivable loans of up to $125,000 to owners who put at least $300,000 into a building that is at least 40 years old and sits in the Urban Renewal District. The loan is forgiven once the approved project is finished. The city says the aim is to keep downtown's historic feel while filling empty or underused space. Community Development Director Kelly Hart said the program encourages "pedestrian activity" in older commercial buildings.

Other owners have applied as well. The program is fully subscribed through June 30, 2027, the end of the current biennium. In other words, more old storefronts are in line for the same kind of work. Owners who want details on the terms can contact the city's Economic Development department and should confirm their own situation with their own advisors. This post is general information, not financial or legal advice.

Getting downtown after five

The longer meter limit applies on Main Street itself. For evening and weekend visits, the city points to the free lot at City Hall, 625 Center St. From there, the Municipal Elevator or the Grand Staircase takes you down the bluff to downtown. The city posts current elevator operating hours on its website. For anything else about parking, the city's parking page is at orcity.org/672/Parking, and the phone number is 503-905-3665.

If you went to the August weekend that connected three festivals with the elevator, the City Hall lot and the elevator ride down will be familiar. On a December evening, the same route ends at the shops.

The calendar until the tree lighting

The first real test of a longer downtown visit comes over the next four weeks:

Travel Oregon City's calendar says the tree lighting will include holiday music, Santa, selected holiday vendors and a countdown to the lighting. The Downtown Oregon City Association says more details are coming. On December 5, the Rose Farm open house closes at 4 p.m. and the tree lighting starts at 5. That leaves an hour in between for dinner on Main Street before the countdown, and three hours on the meter covers all of it.

When we work with clients in Oregon City, we talk about how a downtown changes over time as much as about the homes nearby. If you'd like to hear what we're seeing on Main Street or around town, Monaghan Real Estate Group is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.