Downtown Portland News

[PhillyPDX]

Huge discount for a modern, centrally located, residential building shows just how far off significant conversions for office to residential is for downtown Portland. Only $173k/unit. I bet conversions would be 2x+ that price just to build at a mid level quality.

https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/new...and-apartment-building-sold-for-61m.html

[maccoinnich]

Downtown office-to-residential isn't even close to penciling at the moment... but with a lot of office buildings having been sold to new owners with a very low basis, there's the opportunity for some other creative uses.

Just yesterday Jeff Swickard, new owner of Big Pink, posted a video to Linkedin stating his intention to create an observation deck at the top of the building... which in my view is exactly the kind of draw that would bring visitors to downtown.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Downtown office-to-residential isn't even close to penciling at the moment... but with a lot of office buildings having been sold to new owners with a very low basis, there's the opportunity for some other creative uses.

Just yesterday Jeff Swickard, new owner of Big Pink, posted a video to Linkedin stating his intention to create an observation deck at the top of the building... which in my view is exactly the kind of draw that would bring visitors to downtown.

I would love to see Big Pink with an observation deck, that way I don't have to go to a restaurant/bar or a crappy job interview just to get a skyscraper view of the city.

[OakAngeles]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I would love to see Big Pink with an observation deck, that way I don't have to go to a restaurant/bar or a crappy job interview just to get a skyscraper view of the city.

I've always wondered how many of Portland City Grill's interviews are just for that view. I know I did one a while back just to snap a few shots

Seriously though, an observation deck is sorely lacking and would be a great draw. Aside from the city itself, the views of Mt Hood, Helens etc would be incredible

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I would love to see Big Pink with an observation deck, that way I don't have to go to a restaurant/bar or a crappy job interview just to get a skyscraper view of the city.

Job interview. Ha. “Do you always bring a telephoto lens to job interviews?” Yes, yes I do.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

Job interview. Ha. “Do you always bring a telephoto lens to job interviews?” Yes, yes I do.

It was a crappy commercial real estate job, I knew I didn't want it basically at the handshake, but then we went into the office for the interview and all I can remember is thinking, "damn that's a nice view."

[maccoinnich]

Big Pink’s New Owner Floats Rooftop Deck Idea
Jeff Swickard discussed the notion in a recent Instagram post.



If a distressed-property buyer has his way, a rooftop observatory could be coming to Oregon’s tallest building.

Jeff Swickard—the auto magnate who purchased the 42-story U.S. Bancorp Tower, aka Big Pink, at a deep discount last summer—says Portland could be getting its own vertigo-inducing experience similar to The Edge in midtown Manhattan.

“We’re always looking for ways to make Big Pink even more special,” Swickard tells WW. “So one idea that we’re exploring is the possibility of an observation deck at the top that gives people a new way of experiencing the city, because it’s got these insane views. I mean, you can see every part of the city.”

...continues at Willamette Week.

[Derek]

It’s the second tallest building in Oregon…


Really cool idea though.

[OakAngeles]

Been keeping tabs on foot traffic data for Downtown, and it looks like the city is on the precipice of crossing some important thresholds.
The July 2026 visitor count just clocked in at 3 mil, which is right around where Pre-Covid Winter numbers were at. Also, this July's hotel bookings were only ~6000 below 2019 levels (246k vs 240k)

I imagine that, like a lot of cities now, the numbers are bolstered by weekend & event numbers rather than a traditional 9-5 crowd, but that's still a big deal and welcome news.

Links (hopefully) attached below

[downtownpdx]

Nice to see the progress, thanks for sharing. Especially nice to see the July hotel bookings closing in on 2019 levels.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by OakAngeles

The July 2026 visitor count just clocked in at 3 mil, which is right around where Pre-Covid Winter numbers were at. Also, this July's hotel bookings were only ~6000 below 2019 levels (246k vs 240k)

One challenge is that Portland has a lot more hotel rooms in 2026 than it did in 2019 (Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric, Cascada, Ritz Carlton, Cambria... maybe some others that I'm forgetting), and so the challenge for getting to healthy occupancy rates isn't just returning to 2019 number of room nights; it's exceeding them significantly.

[OakAngeles]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

One challenge is that Portland has a lot more hotel rooms in 2026 than it did in 2019 (Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric, Cascada, Ritz Carlton, Cambria... maybe some others that I'm forgetting), and so the challenge for getting to healthy occupancy rates isn't just returning to 2019 number of room nights; it's exceeding them significantly.

I was wondering about that too, especially in regards to the Ritz. One note though, the data is specifically for Downtown, so the hotels by the convention center or in outer neighborhood hotels like Cascada wouldn't factor in.

I did work in several different Downtown hotels from ~2021 until the summer of '25, so I was able to see some of the behind the scenes numbers & the occupancy rates were certainly a lot closer to full by the end, so as a continuation of that trend at least, I'm happy to see it

[PhillyPDX]

Well, this is going in the opposite direction of office to residential, or return to office. Telework, ha! You wish that was the downside. Here’s AI to replace even those workers.

https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-fores...e-stories-of-high-rise-records-show.html

[colossalorder]

New gay bar coming to old Fluevog space on Harvey Milk. Camp seems to be busy and doing well in the old Scandals. I'd love to see a critical mass of energy there on old Stark Street!

https://whatnow.com/portland/restaurants...f-order-is-coming-to-harvey-milk-street/

[PhillyPDX]

https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2026/09/...-office-workers-remain-home-study-shows/

I assume the “409,000 residents” is a typo.

One thing with this “foot traffic” data I hadn’t thought of, the data can’t differentiate those in downtown compared to those passing through (driving on 405 or marquam Bridge, and stuck in traffic. The threshold is only 7 minutes to count as a visitor). Given that extra info, the data is almost entirely meaningless given the large traffic volume relative to the overall tally and 405 gridlock even on weekends (or me driving eastside via burnside to the zoo, which usually takes more than 7 minutes downtown). Or a family taking max to a blazers game via downtown. Everyone counts in tally.

I’d be curious results if they move threshold for visitor up to say, 1 hour. Which would count as person actually doing something of consequence and not just passing through. Real city life and vitality.

[MoreAllowance]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2026/09/...-office-workers-remain-home-study-shows/

I assume the “409,000 residents” is a typo.

It's not a typo, but the context it which it's used is incorrect. The tally for number of visits by Portland residents to downtown for August was 409,000 times.

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2026/09/...-office-workers-remain-home-study-shows/
One thing with this “foot traffic” data I hadn’t thought of, the data can’t differentiate those in downtown compared to those passing through (driving on 405 or marquam Bridge, and stuck in traffic. The threshold is only 7 minutes to count as a visitor). Given that extra info, the data is almost entirely meaningless given the large traffic volume relative to the overall tally and 405 gridlock even on weekends (or me driving eastside via burnside to the zoo, which usually takes more than 7 minutes downtown). Or a family taking max to a blazers game via downtown. Everyone counts in tally.

I’d be curious results if they move threshold for visitor up to say, 1 hour. Which would count as person actually doing something of consequence and not just passing through. Real city life and vitality.

As far as I understand it, the 7 minutes is a filter used within a particular geo-fence, which I would imagine isn't the same size as the entire district that dashboard is using. In addition, placer seems to be calculating travel velocity for a particular cell phone, so a car just traveling through downtown on the highway would be filtered out. Essentially, their algorithm does it's best to evaluate if a cell phone has been sitting on a particular block for more than 7 minutes before categorizing it as a visit. At the end of the day, Placer.ai has a vested interest in calculating visits as accurately as possible. The city may want to juke the stats, but Placer doesn't.

IMO, anyone who actually lives near or in downtown would attest that this summer has been insanely busy. There are certainly days where it feels quiet, usually some Sundays, but Friday/Saturdays are as busy as I could imagine any downtown of Portland's size to be. If we can get back to building housing in the Central city, then we can being back the 9-5 crowd simply by raw population numbers. Also, and I've said this before, some industries really do prefer in person offices, and it will take time for those to naturally cycle back into office space as the industries who stay remote keep downsizing.

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by MoreAllowance

It's not a typo, but the context it which it's used is incorrect. The tally for number of visits by Portland residents to downtown for August was 409,000 times.



As far as I understand it, the 7 minutes is a filter used within a particular geo-fence, which I would imagine isn't the same size as the entire district that dashboard is using. In addition, placer seems to be calculating travel velocity for a particular cell phone, so a car just traveling through downtown on the highway would be filtered out. Essentially, their algorithm does it's best to evaluate if a cell phone has been sitting on a particular block for more than 7 minutes before categorizing it as a visit. At the end of the day, Placer.ai has a vested interest in calculating visits as accurately as possible. The city may want to juke the stats, but Placer doesn't.

IMO, anyone who actually lives near or in downtown would attest that this summer has been insanely busy. There are certainly days where it feels quiet, usually some Sundays, but Friday/Saturdays are as busy as I could imagine any downtown of Portland's size to be. If we can get back to building housing in the Central city, then we can being back the 9-5 crowd simply by raw population numbers. Also, and I've said this before, some industries really do prefer in person offices, and it will take time for those to naturally cycle back into office space as the industries who stay remote keep downsizing.

From reading online, you can buy all sorts of analyses from placer. Down to specific data for buildings. But that isn’t stated in these articles. Not saying it’s not done, but the devil is in the details here.

I can’t find anything specific that states it control for vehicles/bikes/trains passing through for this specific study.

Funny enough I only looked into this because downtown is still crazy dead to me (in a general sense, not just a few specific busy square blocks). The most dead downtown I’ve seen anywhere in last few years, and it’s not even close (excluding special event days). Too many days it feels like that times square scene in Vanilla sky, it’s just empty, almost eerie.

[twofiftyfive]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

Funny enough I only looked into this because downtown is still crazy dead to me (in a general sense, not just a few specific busy square blocks). The most dead downtown I’ve seen anywhere in last few years, and it’s not even close (excluding special event days). Too many days it feels like that times square scene in Vanilla sky, it’s just empty, almost eerie.

I don't get downtown often anymore, but I have a strange fascination with this Pioneer Courthouse Square webcam (which is zoomed way in on the Umbrella Guy statue as I type this, but usually shows the whole square). Unless an event is happening in the square, it is almost always depressingly empty.

[OakAngeles]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

Funny enough I only looked ino this because downtown is still crazy dead to me (in a general sense, not just a few specific busy square blocks). The most dead downtown I’ve seen anywhere in last few years, and it’s not even close (excluding special event days). Too many days it feels like that times square scene in Vanilla sky, it’s just empty, almost eerie.

I think there is a growing split in how people who visit downtown view it vs people who are there day in and day out (like I assume you are). Lots of people I know have been talking about how busy it's been lately and how much foot traffic has returned because they visit for events or on the weekends. If most people are visiting at busy times, that means their personal experience will be when more people are present & theyll assume thats the norm. Compare that to someone who works M-F and theyll experience the "down times" and probably feel very different.

From my experience, I've seen a huge return to vibrancy both before moving out of PDX & when I've gone back to visit, so calling it the most dead downtown is very much the opposite of what I've seen personally, but if that is your experience then I cant discount it. But if, lets say 70% of people are now experiencing downtown at peak times and on the busiest blocks, then that means most people will walk away with good impressions vs the 30 that won't. (Totally made up those numbers, don't @ me ) The lows are still there, but the highs are indisputably higher and that's what most of the "bridge and tunnel" crowd are seeing

Its kind of a 'Downtown half empty or Downtown half full' scenario. Both are true but its just which you choose to label it as

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

From reading online, you can buy all sorts of analyses from placer. Down to specific data for buildings. But that isn’t stated in these articles. Not saying it’s not done, but the devil is in the details here.

I can’t find anything specific that states it control for vehicles/bikes/trains passing through for this specific study.

Funny enough I only looked into this because downtown is still crazy dead to me (in a general sense, not just a few specific busy square blocks). The most dead downtown I’ve seen anywhere in last few years, and it’s not even close (excluding special event days). Too many days it feels like that times square scene in Vanilla sky, it’s just empty, almost eerie.

I have to admit I haven't been downtown since February for the Winter Light Fest, and January to go to the newly expanded Portland Art Museum. We just live far enough away that it's an effort (pathetic I know, I'm part of the problem) - but I enjoy it when I visit despite its less vibrant atmosphere.

A local friend recently went DT and started recounting his visit with, "Downtown is just ..." and I cringed bc I figured something negative was about to follow. But he continued .."awesome." And talked about walking with his wife and dog from PSU Farmers Market to the new Darcelle Plaza and how far DT has come in recent years.
On the same day, another friend who's been moved away for 10 years, recently visited from Boise and was wowed by Slabtown. I don't know if he'd actually been DT. But several years ago he described the city as apocalyptic, and this time around he was amazed at the turnaround and was heartened to see the progress in his hometown.

I doubt there's another US city that suffered as much reputational damage as Portland post-Covid, deserved or not. DT is very office-heavy, (not so much residential as most of that type of growth happened in the Pearl, South Waterfront etc.) So 30% vacancy rates are gonna be felt at street level M-F.

The recovery is going as expected, slowly, and with visitors first. As word spreads that "No, the city isn't actually on fire", I have to think the office and residential will pick up. The waterfront redesign, the public market, expanded art museum etc are finally giving people positive things to associate with DT. We've long needed some civic projects to give Portland direction and energy.

I totally agree that it's too quiet and we have a long way to go. Just trying to give my 2 cents on why we're in this spot compared to other cities, and why I think there's reason to be positive about where we're headed.