A LINCOLN CENTER HERE AT HOME
Tomorrow’s cities won’t be filled with office parks. Successful cities of the future will instead focus on creating destination-worthy downtown districts filled with arts, culture, entertainment and educational amenities.
The City of Portland has committed to investing in a downtown performing arts corridor with multiple venues, including a renovated Keller Auditorium connected to Keller Fountain Park, the northern gateway to a beautiful series of underutilized historic pedestrian walkways and fountain parks called the Portland Open Space Sequence.
When we add PSU to this vision, it goes from exciting to extraordinary. PSU owns one of the largest parcels of developable property in downtown Portland, a site four times larger than the existing Keller Auditorium and immediately adjacent to Portland State University at the southern gateway to the Open Space Sequence. The 4.25 acre PSU parcel allows for ground-up construction of a purpose-built, multi-use performing arts and culture complex with commercial, academic and community uses that can spark the entire cultural ecosystem.
Across these linked locations, Portland hopes to create our region’s version of New York City’s Lincoln Center — presenting music, theater, dance, film, opera and more on two large, Broadway-capable stages and one smaller community theater stage, with a shared mission to bring blockbuster traveling shows to the metropolitan area, support regional performing arts groups, and advance cultural equity. The PSU location — provisionally referred to as the Performing Arts + Culture Center or PACC — will also provide space for classrooms and rehearsal rooms supporting PSU and K-12 performing arts programs, and be home to an additional resident arts organization. The PSU site will further accommodate a privately financed hotel, conference facilities, bars and restaurants — as well as ample underground parking.
This premier performing arts, culture and education corridor has been conceived to activate downtown Portland 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year — bringing patrons and visitors to see amazing shows, engage in cultural activities, and experience the city in a positive way. Associated spending will benefit businesses large and small, create jobs and generate new tax revenues.
Importantly, there are more than seven acres of developable space in the vicinity to help drive economic impact, including along the Open Space Sequence, which is likely to attract additional development, emerging as a vibrant new location for pre-and-post show activities.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for philanthropic, civic, nonprofit and academic leaders to come together to create a destination for the next century — with arts, culture and education as its beating heart.