Old Town Battle Ground’s most prominent food truck will get some neighbors as plans for a full-on food truck pod were made public this week.
The largely vacant lot at the corner of East Main Street and Northeast Second Avenue now bears a sign announcing “Battle Ground Station,” a food cart pod development on the property.
Currently sporting Taqueria Los Toritos, the property has been owned by Alkesh and Bindiya Patel for decades, their son Parth said. The property previously featured a dry cleaning business the family ran, and the family still owns the Best Western hotel further down west on Main Street, he said.
“That lot has been open for a while and we thought it’s the perfect time to get these carts going,” Patel said.
With Battle Ground’s continued growth, Patel said the family wants to put the open lot, centrally located on Main Street, to use. Given that Taqueria Los Toritos was already set up on the lot, bringing in more food carts made sense.
Patel said developing the property has been in the works since right before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wanted to get this going then, but it was just tough with everyone not being able to work,” Patel said.
The development is the first of its kind in the city. That made navigating the permitting process more of a challenge, he added.
The space will feature a number of amenities including electricity, water and gas utilities, trash and recycling, as well as portable toilets, among others. The space will also feature a covered seating area, as well as heaters in colder weather and fans on hotter days, Patel said.
When complete, the lot will have spaces for 10 food carts, Patel said. Not even a week after the plans went public, Patel said local food cart owners expressed interest in leasing out space. If the project gets the permits it needs in time Patel said the space should be ready for operation before Harvest Days.
Patel said the goal of Battle Ground Station is to create a destination that is worth visiting as the city develops farther out from Old Town.
“Battle Ground’s growing in a way where I want to make sure — we all want to make sure — it still retains that small town vibe where people can walk around and have a good time,” Patel said.
