In late August, I sent an email to employees alerting them that PSU was submitting a proposal to develop a new major performing arts venue at the south end of our campus. We were invited to put our hat in the ring by the City of Portland and we were excited to do so — PSU would love to host Broadway shows and other performances, both big and small, on our campus.
I’m thrilled to say that Portland State’s proposal is one of five under consideration for replacing the aging and seismically compromised Keller Auditorium with an entirely new venue. We will have an interview with city and Metro decision makers next week and before the end of the year we’ll know whether our site on Southwest Lincoln Street — which currently houses University Place Hotel — will be selected for further investigation.
This opportunity is the kind of future-facing, bold-thinking, flag-planting initiative that will help shape the future of Portland and Portland State. Here are my top reasons why it would be great for PSU and for the city:
1
This project plays to PSU’s strengths as an arts and culture powerhouse for the city
The PSU community, led by our College of the Arts, is an engine of creativity for Portland. Our students and alumni can be found in all corners of the region’s arts and culture scene and it is only natural that our campus should include the city’s premier venue. As a majority-BIPOC institution, PSU is educating the diverse cultural community of Portland’s future and a state-of-the-art performing arts venue on our campus would only strengthen our ability to curate a talent pipeline that will serve the region.
2
Our proposal keeps the venue downtown and accessible
Of the five proposals for a venue to replace Keller Auditorium, PSU’s is the only one that will keep the city’s premier venue downtown and in the same neighborhood as other venues such as the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and our own Lincoln Hall. It also has the most transportation options with the MAX Orange Line and several bus routes at its front door, easy highway access, walkable access and thousands of parking spaces within a few blocks of the venue. It's also on the route of the proposed Green Loop, the six mile linear park that will link the major cultural institutions together throughout the Central City. Portland State is the most active and comprehensive transportation hub in the city and Portland’s newest performance venue will be served by that same level of access.
3
Our proposal keeps the lights on at Keller and helps arts organizations survive
Renovating the Keller Auditorium would require Portland’s largest performing arts venue to go dark for at least one season, possibly longer. This could be catastrophic for some of the city’s arts organizations that were already financially hobbled by the pandemic. Building a new venue from the ground up — with design input from the arts community that it will serve — would allow the show to go on at Keller in the meantime.
4
Ours is a dynamic and future-oriented site design that is more than the sum of its parts
PSU is proposing a new auditorium, built from the ground up incorporating the latest in sustainable building practices and all the latest advances in sound and performance capabilities. But that’s not all. Our plan includes an onsite boutique hotel, a building for educational programming, an outdoor plaza and a full-service restaurant and conference facility. Not only will our site accommodate the backstage and parking needs of large-scale traveling performances, but our lively campus will activate the space between shows year round. This is the kind of landmark, mixed-use project that will catalyze development in the neighborhood and create new reasons for folks to visit PSU and downtown for generations to come.
5
It will open up fantastic opportunities for PSU’s future
Just imagine the implications of having a world-class performance venue at the edge of our campus. The access it will provide to our students and to a wide variety of cultural institutions will encourage stronger partnerships — and that will benefit not only our future students but the cultural institutions and the community as a whole. The possibilities it will deliver for future PSU programming are truly inspiring to think about. Rather than renovating the past, PSU is ready to build for the future!
Watch this space for updates about this proposal as we enter this next phase of the process. If you have questions about it, get in touch.