Hyatt at the Oregon Convention Center | 180'-6" | 14 floors | Complete

[ORNative]

I were the man whose job it was to coordinate a convention for 1000+ people three or four years from now, there is no way in hell that I would book it in Portland before ground broke on this hotel. Talk of the Convention Center Hotel has been around since the Convention Center was built. It has started and died a half dozen times. There are court battles challenging the legality of the current funding plan. If I went to my boss and told her that I'd booked our 2019 national convention for a hotel that hadn't even broken ground under these conditions - I'd be looking for a new boss by the end of the day. Just like the All-Star game, I'd tell Portland that I'll consider your proposal if my convention falls 6-12 months after construction is complete, but I would not commit to anything before dirt was moved.

[ORNative]

Lesson learned. First word should have read "If"

editing is important

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by ORNative

I were the man whose job it was to coordinate a convention for 1000+ people three or four years from now, there is no way in hell that I would book it in Portland before ground broke on this hotel. Talk of the Convention Center Hotel has been around since the Convention Center was built. It has started and died a half dozen times. There are court battles challenging the legality of the current funding plan. If I went to my boss and told her that I'd booked our 2019 national convention for a hotel that hadn't even broken ground under these conditions - I'd be looking for a new boss by the end of the day. Just like the All-Star game, I'd tell Portland that I'll consider your proposal if my convention falls 6-12 months after construction is complete, but I would not commit to anything before dirt was moved.

Even Cleveland realizes the importance of a Convention Center Hotel....Cleveland!! Come on Portland!!

[ORNative]

I am certainly not opposed to the new hotel and I, frankly, think that we should be thinking bigger. The 2035 plan will allow for 460' at this location, so in my mind the parking tower should be incorporated onto the same lot (under the rooms themselves) to preserve that second lot for future development. 600 room is also, in my mind, on the small side. No, we have needed this HQ hotel for 20 years. I would just not bet my job on its timely completion given the long history of fits and starts.

[Tykendo]

That Cleveland design would go beautifully next to Portland's convention center. Portland's design looks like a freakin' Motel 6 next to Cleveland's. C'mon, Portland can do better than the Plain Jane design and only 600 rooms it has proposed so far, right?

[maccoinnich]

No images of a design have been published yet.

[Tykendo]

No final images, but the image on page 21 of a preliminary design that is used for discussion purposes is pretty bland, and not very inspiring. Just saying.

[tworivers]

I'm actually completely opposed to this project as conceived -- after being a huge booster for many years. The idea that we should be subsidizing the building of a giant above-ground parking garage in an already-challenged urban area (Rose Qtr/Lloyd Ctr) in 2015 is disgusting. Put it under the hotel or don't build it, particularly with a public subsidy and an initial design that looks entirely uninspired. Look at that design from Cleveland! Just my 2 cents.

[Abide]

I'm with tworivers. With a windswept plaza and an entire block parking garage right next to a major transit stop, either start from scratch or just forget it.

[Pdxnative]

Very typical of the PDC. As much as I want this built ASAP, i think we should hold of until something bigger or more spectacular can be built.
Especially the visibilty it will receive so close to Rose Quarter.
It seems to me that Portland is being
Put on the 'back burner' so to speak. I would love to see a hotel with a little more beauty. Something unique that screams Portland!

[PDX City-State]

Originally Posted by Pdxnative

Very typical of the PDC. As much as I want this built ASAP, i think we should hold of until something bigger or more spectacular can be built.
Especially the visibilty it will receive so close to Rose Quarter.
It seems to me that Portland is being
Put on the 'back burner' so to speak. I would love to see a hotel with a little more beauty. Something unique that screams Portland!

This is a convention center hotel--not the Golden Gate Bridge.

First and foremost, it needs to be functional. Conventions generate massive revenue for tourism (hotels, restaurants, retail and everything that funds how our entire region promotes itself) The only idea worse than not building an adjacent hotel when the convention center was built in the 1980s was that the city didn't construct the convention center downtown where the hotels are in the first place. The first priority is to get this built. And with all of the politics surrounding this (and the very legitimate arguments by private hotel developers that a private hotel group should not receive a subsidy when many downtown hotels operate on their own investment), adding millions more to bury the parking would be political suicide. It's not ideal, but Portland needs this thing bad.

[babs]

Originally Posted by PDX City-State

This is a convention center hotel--not the Golden Gate Bridge.

First and foremost, it needs to be functional. Conventions generate massive revenue for tourism (hotels, restaurants, retail and everything that funds how our entire region promotes itself) The only idea worse than not building an adjacent hotel when the convention center was built in the 1980s was that the city didn't construct the convention center downtown where the hotels are in the first place. The first priority is to get this built. And with all of the politics surrounding this (and the very legitimate arguments by private hotel developers that a private hotel group should not receive a subsidy when many downtown hotels operate on their own investment), adding millions more to bury the parking would be political suicide. It's not ideal, but Portland needs this thing bad.

I don't think the parking needs to be buried. A compromise would be to have it above ground in the same structure as the hotel. It would result in a taller building with rooms that a better views. A win for everyone.

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by ORNative

I were the man whose job it was to coordinate a convention for 1000+ people three or four years from now, there is no way in hell that I would book it in Portland before ground broke on this hotel. Talk of the Convention Center Hotel has been around since the Convention Center was built. It has started and died a half dozen times. There are court battles challenging the legality of the current funding plan. If I went to my boss and told her that I'd booked our 2019 national convention for a hotel that hadn't even broken ground under these conditions - I'd be looking for a new boss by the end of the day. Just like the All-Star game, I'd tell Portland that I'll consider your proposal if my convention falls 6-12 months after construction is complete, but I would not commit to anything before dirt was moved.

San Diego (for example) got commitments that if certain goals were reached they'd keep conventions, or gain new ones. Anaheim did the same. So did Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Atlanta, New York, Boston, etc.

It's not unheard of to have a business agreement that essentially says "Our (this year + 5 years) agreement is that we'll go to X city if A, B and C are ready by (this date + 2 years). If Portland actually will get conventions if requirements A B and C are met then we should be able to start getting such agreements.

If we can't actually deliver on those promises maybe it's best we don't make them. The reason that there's usually gap in promises delivered (which doesn't necessarily mean construction is completed, just that it's going to actually happen and that legal issues, financing and whatnot are resolved) gives the organizer plenty of time to reschedule.

When an event has to happen in a specific city (like a trade show that's held in the same city every year) there's less room for negotiations, but if it's something like the NBA All Star Game, the Super Bowl, or even an industry specific trade show, you can pre-book WAY in advance and get better deals, but still get to back out if your demands aren't met.

It's not at all unheard of for a city to get events to commit long term plans in exchange for discounted rates. If Metro is that confident in the CC hotel it would seem like they might at least start lining up uses IF they're actually able to get it built.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by davehogan

San Diego (for example) got commitments that if certain goals were reached they'd keep conventions, or gain new ones. Anaheim did the same. So did Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Atlanta, New York, Boston, etc.

It's not unheard of to have a business agreement that essentially says "Our (this year + 5 years) agreement is that we'll go to X city if A, B and C are ready by (this date + 2 years). If Portland actually will get conventions if requirements A B and C are met then we should be able to start getting such agreements.

If we can't actually deliver on those promises maybe it's best we don't make them. The reason that there's usually gap in promises delivered (which doesn't necessarily mean construction is completed, just that it's going to actually happen and that legal issues, financing and whatnot are resolved) gives the organizer plenty of time to reschedule.

When an event has to happen in a specific city (like a trade show that's held in the same city every year) there's less room for negotiations, but if it's something like the NBA All Star Game, the Super Bowl, or even an industry specific trade show, you can pre-book WAY in advance and get better deals, but still get to back out if your demands aren't met.

It's not at all unheard of for a city to get events to commit long term plans in exchange for discounted rates. If Metro is that confident in the CC hotel it would seem like they might at least start lining up uses IF they're actually able to get it built.

Many cities actually built and own their convention centers and hire a flag to manage the property. When/if our hotel is built, my understanding is Hyatt will purchase the hotel from Metro and will receive the room tax generated for a certain period of time to recoup some of that investment. Or something like that. It's been so many years of negotiations I'm not fully sure how the agreement is currently worded, but Metro would have to acquire a vote of the citizens if we were to build AND own the hotel, which is essentially what Provenance Hotels is suing for, that we technically are building and owning the hotel without a public vote.

[maccoinnich]

Design Advice Drawings [PDF - 89MB]. Mostly focuses on the street level engagement and public spaces of the proposed hotel. The massing, height and facade articulation of the room tower seems to be purposefully left vague.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Design Advice Drawings [PDF - 89MB]. Mostly focuses on the street level engagement and public spaces of the proposed hotel. The massing, height and facade articulation of the room tower is seem to be purposefully left vague.

The material palette of the tower is vague, but they clearly are proposing only 11 floors of guest rooms above a 4-story podium. Fifteen stories total. Essentially, it's just a 400' long horizontal slab. And they are deliberately keeping the "tower" low and non-descript so as not to draw attention away from the OCC spires. They call it "respecting" the importance of the spires. I call it a cop out. I know Ankrom Moisan isn't known for cutting edge architecture, but they could have at least TRIED to raise their bar just a little.

[Derek]

Especially after seeing that proposal in Cleveland, this is looking more and more pathetic every day.

[maccoinnich]

There's also floorplans and some text about the project at nextportland.com.

[Photogeric]

I can't say I hate it, the tower is just uninspired. The first couple floors have a nice thing going for it. I'm just curious, since this thing is going to be shorter than planned, are they still planning on fitting the same amount of rooms in it?

[ORNative]

The agreement with METRO calls for a block of 600 rooms for conventions, so that is the floor.

I hate to see a 15 story building on a piece of ground that is expected to have a 460' height limit by this summer. If the two wings were stacked on top of one another it would still be shorter than the current 325' height limit.

Stack the two wings on top of one another for a taller, leaner mass. Concurrently design for addition of the second wing if the market supports a larger hotel and future expansion is appropriate.

I presume that it would be much easier to expand to the side than it would be to build on top of the existing structure in the future.

I agree that the "soft" background for the towers is a cop out. The N /NE Quadrant plan places those towers in the heart of a 460' height zone. It is the conventioneers that should look at those spires framing downtown. The view of the spires from downtown will be lost with development in that area anyway.