Albina Vision / Rose Quarter Redevelopment

[2oh1]

I think the Coliseum is gorgeous - but is pretty without purpose enough to justify the amount of land and opportunities the Coliseum eats up? In my opinion the answer is no.

It's actually not true that Portland can book more events thanks to the Coliseum. In theory, that seems like it should be how it works, but in reality, the Coliseum is a tough space to book. It's too large for small events yet too small for the kind of events that seek an indoor arena. It's not just Portland trying to repurpose an old venue like our Coliseum. Other cities are having the same problem.

In a perfect world, there would be a way to pick the building up and move it somewhere to serve as a museum, or who knows what. Obviously, that's crazy talk.

My guess is that the coliseum will sit there, underutilized, costing more money than it brings in, for decades to come, just as it has since the Rose Garden/Moda Center was built. Eventually, an earthquake will bring it down. I know that's a terrible thing to say, but the word "veteran" and the fact that it's now on the historic registry are going to make the building difficult to demolish, and all plans to repurpose the building have failed.

Tear it down.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by mcbaby

I recall an idea to turn it into a sports medicine and aquatics center with Olympic sized saltwater swimming pools. Does anyone recall that idea?

Yeah, it was Portland proposal to get a Kroc funded community center. The Kroc Trust (or whatever it is) was funding one large community center per state. Salem ended up winning in the end. I believe it was going to be called the MERC or something like that.

[zilfondel]

Why the heck don't they renovate it? If your options are to either renovate it or tear it down, but never renovate it due to excuses and procrastination... you've done it to yourself.

[2oh1]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Why the heck don't they renovate it? If your options are to either renovate it or tear it down, but never renovate it due to excuses and procrastination... you've done it to yourself.

Renovate it at what cost and for what purpose Moda Center cannot already fill?

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by 2oh1

I think the Coliseum is gorgeous - but is pretty without purpose enough to justify the amount of land and opportunities the Coliseum eats up? In my opinion the answer is no.

.

What opportunities is it holding up?

And if we're going to make the "earthquake will bring it down argument", we might as well just demolish almost everything in Old Town and the Yamhill district. Plenty of buildings there that are getting less use than VMC is.

[RED_PDXer]

In addition to the MERC proposal, I also saw a proposal to repurpose the building into a design center that looked really cool and practical. It looked like someplace that I would actually check out. I don't recall if there was an IKEA or Home Depot as part of that proposal, but it would include an educational and office space component.

I actually like the look of the building and there's a ton of embodied energy in that structure. Why not tear out the surface lots and boring landscaping and build around it in a way that livens up the district? All the while repurposing the structure into something incredibly unique.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I find the description of it as a "fortress" kind of strange given the obvious comparison to the Moda Center, which is a 1000x more fortress.

I don't feel that the Rose Garden is any more fortress like. I would say it is slightly less, though still not great.

I really hate this about sports venues, they tend to be large overbearing structures with little to no life around them outside of events. Not being a sports fan these buildings offer me next to nothing, though I do see the value they provide to the city. I just wish they would be designed in such a way that they could activate the space more consistently.

[tworivers]

The MC should, and most likely will, be saved.

Both the embodied energy argument and the built heritage argument are powerful and should trump whatever personal opinions Portlanders might have about the architecture. It doesn't need to be a "fortress", either. Right now it is isolated behind a bunch of tall trees and surrounded by a sea of parking on one side and the monolithic Rose Garden/Moda Center on the other side.

The parking, both surface and garage, can and should be replaced by dense mixed-use, which would also restore part of the Broadway streetscape. The trees should be cut down and replaced with low-height native plants. The west side could be extended to connect with a future development on the other side of Interstate (owned by Paul Allen, sadly) or just expanded into a viewing platform. The structure itself could also be radically repurposed and still retain much of what makes it special.

The earthquake argument is specious. Let's just tear down the Steel Bridge while we're in a demolition mood. After all, it is pretty much guaranteed to come down in a large-ish quake, right? We obviously need to do a better job of seismic retrofitting structures like this, not to mention the bridges and public schools, asap.

We're very unfortunate to have a gutless, provincial-minded, imagination-lacking city council right now. The lack of direction and vision permeates every corner of the city bureaucracy and has resulted in an endless stream of studies and poorly executed proposals. I'm not confident that this newest of studies will result in anything other than continued inaction.

[innovativethinking]

My theory is their keeping it around to save the spot for the Blazers future home. The Rose garden/MODA center is not young anymore. It's pretty much over 20 years old and the Blazers are big civic entity in this town so they'll need a future spot somewhere. The Memorial Colesium is a perfect place to have another arena to replace the Rose Garden/MODA center.

I don't know it's just a theory

[cab]

My theory is the architecture community saved it by crying and bitching, than ran away when they actually had to find a way to make it functional. Its just picture book mentality. Just make it look like a clean jewel box so we can all take pictures of the empty masterpiece that has no use and no one outside the insular architect box likes. Funny thing is, I actually think it could have some good use, but it would need to be a gorilla reboot by normal people. Think how much more active a cart village is than a "well" design building streetscape by a qualified architect. Give it to a group of artist. I trust them more than an architect to create something of active worth.

[zilfondel]

The MC hosts roughly 150 events every year. Some are small, but it is heavily used still. Of course, these arguments have been rehashed and argued again and again, and I'd rather not go down that road for an umpteenth time.

[360Rich]

City Council's Memorial Coliseum study includes demolition option
BY BRIAN LIBBY



Five years ago Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland's National Register-listed landmark arena, was threatened with demolition to make way for a minor-league baseball stadium. When a coalition of citizens opposed the plan, then-mayor Sam Adams reversed course and the baseball blueprints were set aside. But in the ensuing years, Adams and his mayoral successor, Charlie Hales, have been unable to take the next step: restoring the building.

continued at http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portla...on-option.html

[urbanlife]

I definitely worry about the fate of this building. I have a feeling if they don't find a solid use for it, that it is going to be torn down. Though I still prefer watching Winterhawks games at this arena.

[maccoinnich]

DoCoMoMo Oregon is organizing a tour of the building on Dec 11th:

Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum Lecture and Tour

Portland’s International Architectural Jewel

Join DoCoMoMo_Oregon for a lively lecture and behind the scenes tour of the Veteran’s Historic Memorial Coliseum: Portland’s international architectural jewel.

When completed in 1960, Memorial Coliseum was a technological feat of engineering and operation unrivaled by any other large civic structure, and a fully-articulated example of lnternational-Style Modernism. In addition to the glass curtain wall, Memorial Coliseum’s other features, such as the undulating concrete seating bowl, contribute to the significant social history of the building. The building is the only large-scale public arena glass-walled structure of the mid-century retaining its original design, materials, workmanship, highly urban context, and original relationship to nearby geographic features such as the Willamette River.

Date: December 11th, 2014 4-6pm
Tickets: $5 member/student (with valid student I.D.) / $10 non-members

[urbanlife]

What are the three buildings at the bottom of the picture along the Willamette? Now it is just a parking lots....and why hasn't anything new been developed there yet?

[pdxlexus]

That was the old Thunderbird Motor Inn. I believe it later became a Red Lion proprty before it was demolished about 15 years ago.

[crow]

It looks the high-rise in the distance might be a former version of what is now Lloyd Center Tower (PacifiCorp)... but perhaps it got a new skin later in life. Cool picture.

[scleeb]

Originally Posted by crow

It looks the high-rise in the distance might be a former version of what is now Lloyd Center Tower (PacifiCorp)... but perhaps it got a new skin later in life. Cool picture.

I believe that is the Calaroga Terrace Retirement Building.

[hat]

Fantastic lecture by local historian Tom Robinson on the Albina neighborhood, which used to encompass most of this picture. Hopefully, the lecture on the VMC will have something about this as well.

[babs]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

DoCoMoMo Oregon is organizing a tour of the building on Dec 11th:

This issue has never been whether the MC is a great building or not. I think it's a great piece of architecture. This issue is finding a viable reuse of the building. It's not economically viable as a sports arena right across from another sports arena. It will either always struggle or compete in a way that hurts both buildings. I'm not in the camp that it needs to come down but I do believe that a new use needs to be found for it. I really don't know what that is. Maybe you float a steel structure inside and make that offices and keep the outside as is. Somewhere I saw someone suggest that it could make a really cool ice center to perhaps replace the rink at Lloyd Center. Some creativity is needed here.