Albina Vision / Rose Quarter Redevelopment

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by mhays

The truth is somewhere in the middle as usual. I don't know where but will take a crack at it.

Moda Center could handle most bookings by itself but it would miss some, and those might skip Portland. (PS, LA has numerous arenas and stadiums.)

Renovation would cost a lot. Revenues might cover heat, lights, event staff, etc., but there's zero chance of recovering the renovation dollars. The argument for keeping the arena therefore relies on the public benefits of whatever use the arena will have, including the historic argument and the specific activities. Maybe there's a case for that.

I'd add that there's also opportunity cost. Could the site be sold or leased? Assuming eight acres, with urban zoning it seems like it could be worth over $100,000,000.

On the flip side, a large publicly-owned parcel is a very useful commodity, and will be increasingly important as Portland densifies and grows.

While there is certainly value in the land, there's no way it's worth $100 million. The PDC paid $88 million for the post office site, which is 2.4x as large, in a more desirable location, and unencumbered by a National Register listed building.

[mhays]

Good points, but I'm surprised at how little the post office site got.

[babs]

I believe for the Memorial Coliseum remodel to really gain traction it needs a viable sports tenant as a anchor. That may or may not be the Winterhawks. They draw way better at the Moda but that maybe because the best games are at the Moda and the Coliseum is such a dump right now. The Winterhawks have said in the past they are willing to be that anchor tenant. If so, they need to step up and make it happen. The other potential anchor tenant is Portland State. They are building a new arena but at 3000 seats, it's kind of a joke. If the team can ever get its act together and become a real draw, they might be the perfect tenant to get a coliseum remodel going.

Remodeling the MC without a plan in mind that gets the public excited is going to continue to fail up to the point where the MC will eventually be comdemed for being unsafe. Remodeling the place to keep the current hodge podge users isn't going to work. I still like the idea of turning it in an ice center. Winterhawks use it as their training facility and arena, the public gets to use it during the rest of the time. It might even encourage some high schools to put together hockey leagues.

[cab]

WinterHawks could be the new Timbers. There were people wanting to tear down the timbers stadium as well. You just need a bit of "innovative" thinking and Memorial Coliseum would be a huge asset to the community. The larger question is where is Paul Allen. Guy spends like crazy up in Seattle but lets the Rose Q rot. Everything around him is booming.

[58rhodes]

Originally Posted by cab

WinterHawks could be the new Timbers. There were people wanting to tear down the timbers stadium as well. You just need a bit of "innovative" thinking and Memorial Coliseum would be a huge asset to the community. The larger question is where is Paul Allen. Guy spends like crazy up in Seattle but lets the Rose Q rot. Everything around him is booming.

I get the feeling that the only civic interest Allen has in Portland is the Blazers.

[tworivers]

Originally Posted by 58rhodes

I get the feeling that the only civic interest Allen has in Portland is the Blazers.

I've thought about this for years now. He also owns that vacant piece of land on the river between the Broadway bridge and the silos. It's begging for redevelopment but he obviously just does not care about our city's urban fabric in any way. And obviously he doesn't need to think about money on that level. That would be a huge advantage, I'm guessing, to his selling the team to someone local one of these days, as unlikely as it may be. Someone like Merritt Paulson, who apparently has the good taste to hire Allied Works for the Providence Park expansion...

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by Photogeric

The two redundant venue argument is stale. Just look at Staples Center, they have the Lakers, Clippers and Kings as well as a host of other events going on and they manage to make it work. It just takes creative scheduling on their part sometimes.

thank you and mind you LA and staples center have TONS of events and make it work

[BlazerBeav]

Originally Posted by cab

WinterHawks could be the new Timbers. There were people wanting to tear down the timbers stadium as well. You just need a bit of "innovative" thinking and Memorial Coliseum would be a huge asset to the community. The larger question is where is Paul Allen. Guy spends like crazy up in Seattle but lets the Rose Q rot. Everything around him is booming.

This argument just doesn't hold water. As much as I love going to Hawks games (they just advanced to the second round of the playoffs!), they play in a junior hockey league, not the suddenly red-hot MLS that billionaires are throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at for expansion teams. The Hawks are one of the best draws in junior hockey, but they'd never draw more than 10,000 consistently.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by BlazerBeav

This argument just doesn't hold water. As much as I love going to Hawks games (they just advanced to the second round of the playoffs!), they play in a junior hockey league, not the suddenly red-hot MLS that billionaires are throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at for expansion teams. The Hawks are one of the best draws in junior hockey, but they'd never draw more than 10,000 consistently.

I was thinking the same thing. The Winterhawks aren't enough of a draw. Neither are the Portland Thunder (and, holy moly, what an awful name! Portland Thunder? Has whoever came up with that name ever been to Portland? Thunder is rare here).

EDIT: Well well... I didn't realize that last year, the Portland Thunder became the Portland Steel - another wtf name. And this year, the team folded.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by innovativethinking

thank you and mind you LA and staples center have TONS of events and make it work

Last time I checked, there are more than one arena in LA....so they make it work by having multiple arenas and event spaces.

[BlazerBeav]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Last time I checked, there are more than one arena in LA....so they make it work by having multiple arenas and event spaces.

As noted earlier, that Staples Center ALONE hosts (2) NBA teams and an NHL team. There's just no need for a second arena.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by BlazerBeav

As noted earlier, that Staples Center ALONE hosts (2) NBA teams and an NHL team. There's just no need for a second arena.

Keep in mind, LA and Portland are not the same size, so sure, the Staple Center handles two NBA teams and an NHL team, but the surrounding arenas and venues handle the stuff the Staples Center can't handle. It makes no sense to get rid of something that works just fine and is able to be used for events that can't go in the Moda Center.

[maccoinnich]

‘Albina Vision’ would restore historic Rose Quarter neighborhood, put biking and walking first



In the early 1950s, the Rose Quarter was a neighborhood of homes, churches and stores. It was a thriving part of our city where many people lived and worked. But by 1958 all the houses were razed to make way for the Memorial Coliseum and eventually the Moda Center. Within the same decade hundreds more homes would see the same fate as city planners gave Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Interstate 5 priority over housing and businesses. These “urban renewal” projects in the Albina corridor had a devastating impact to the community and many of the scars — on human lives and infrastructure — remain unhealed.

A bold new plan unveiled for the first time on Friday seeks to restore that neighborhood — and ideally, the community that went along with it. The “Albina Vision” would develop the 30-acre Rose Quarter with housing and businesses that respects history and embraces the future.

On Friday two of the project’s main backers — Rukaiyah Adams, chief investment officer with the Meyer Memorial Trust and Zari Santner, a former Portland Parks Bureau director — laid out their vision to a crowd of about 70 electeds, planners, advocates and government staffers during a stop on the annual Policymakers Ride.

...continues at BikePortland.

[urbanlife]

But if that happens, where will a MLB stadium go? One can dream about rooting for the Portland Beavers some day.

[AcmeGreg]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

But if that happens, where will a MLB stadium go? One can dream about rooting for the Portland Beavers some day.

In order to to properly unify this district it appears they've gone underground with that nasty stretch of I-5 between the Moda Center and the Fremont Bridge. Beaver Stadium is underground also, directly beneath Memorial Coliseum – now just an empty shell with a glass floor that doubles as the ballpark roof. Imagine standing on that thing watching the game unfold (slowly, of course) below your feet! On sunny days the Coliseum walls hinge outward allowing the ballpark to rise majestically to the surface – in subtle homage to those funky sidewalk elevators downtown*.

A reasonable person might question the resulting field dimensions – which, based on the Coliseum's existing footprint and allowing for grandstands to accommodate 45,000 or so, would compare favorably with a decent-size little league field – but I view this as a plus since the Beav's had a hard enough time hitting the ball out of modestly-sized Civic Stadium. It goes without saying that their GM would need to focus on acquiring a top-notch pitching staff.

*this is pure speculation on my part.

[geohiker]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

But if that happens, where will a MLB stadium go? One can dream about rooting for the Portland Beavers some day.

If we are lucky we might get an NHL team. I currently have to drive up to Vancouver if I want to catch a NHL game and the league is primed for a west coast expansion. I know it will probably go to Seattle, but I don't want to give up hope.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by geohiker

If we are lucky we might get an NHL team. I currently have to drive up to Vancouver if I want to catch a NHL game and the league is primed for a west coast expansion. I know it will probably go to Seattle, but I don't want to give up hope.

I am actually surprised the NHL hasn't put a team in both Seattle and Portland. That would make for quite a Cascadia rivalry with the three Northwest cities.

[innovativethinking]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

I am actually surprised the NHL hasn't put a team in both Seattle and Portland. That would make for quite a Cascadia rivalry with the three Northwest cities.

Yea I'm baffled by that as well. You would think the NHL would love that

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by geohiker

If we are lucky we might get an NHL team.

I'd take a NHL team over a MLB team any day. Baseball is the sports equivalent of Ambien.

[geohiker]

Originally Posted by innovativethinking

Yea I'm baffled by that as well. You would think the NHL would love that

The worst part is that the Moda Center is ready to go and has been for years. All that needs to happen is for someone to buy a team and move them in.