Coliseum: preserve or destroy?

Questions on baseball stadium hang on fate of historic sports arena

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Apr 30, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (15 Reader comments)

JIM CLARK / TRIBUNE PHOTO

City officials are considering various redevelopment plans for the Rose Quarter, including razing the square-topped Memorial Coliseum next to the Rose Garden and building a baseball stadium on that land.

As city Commissioner Randy Leonard sees it, the Memorial Coliseum is the second-ugliest building in town.

“Only the Portland Building is uglier,” said Leonard, referring to the downtown city office tower between City Hall and the Multnomah County Courthouse.

And Leonard believes the coliseum has outlived its useful life. According to the most recent city analysis, the 49-year-old arena and exhibition hall in the Rose Quarter needs at least $10 million in maintenance and infrastructure improvements. And even then it would not meet current earthquake standards.

“It’s a white elephant,” Leonard said.

Many local architects and historic preservationists disagree. They argue that the coliseum is a marvel of mid-century design that needs to be preserved. Some of them are preparing to nominate the coliseum to National Register of Historic Places when it turns 50 next year. A few have promised to chain themselves to the doors of the coliseum if the city tries to tear it down.

As everyone who follows city politics knows, the fate of the coliseum is a hot topic because the City Council is considering replacing it with a Triple-A baseball stadium. The proposed stadium is part of the council-backed plan to bring a Major League Soccer team to Portland in 2011. The plan calls for PGE Park to be renovated for soccer and football, requiring a new stadium to be built for the Portland Beavers, who play at PGE Park.

Although the City Council voted on March 11 to build the stadium in the Rose Quarter, Mayor Sam Adams has asked city planners to study whether it could be built instead at Lents Park in Southeast Portland. That study — which is not yet completed — is in response to opposition to tearing down the coliseum that emerged since the council vote.

But even if the council ultimately decides to build the stadium elsewhere, the support for the coliseum may complicate other plans to redevelop the Rose Quarter, the nearly 40-acre area that also houses the Rose Garden, where the Portland Trail Blazers play.

Before the council began looking at replacing the coliseum, the Trail Blazers had been studying the idea of building a free live music venue in the area to encourage construction of new pubs, restaurants, retail buildings, offices and housing. Team owners have spent more than a year in discussions with the Cordish Co., a Maryland-based developer that has helped build similar entertainment-oriented districts in other cities.

The idea is still in the discussion stage and no preliminary plans or budget estimates have been formally released. It became a public issue only when Adams tried to mesh the idea with the plans for replacing the coliseum with a baseball stadium. Now, some of the coliseum supporters are weighing in on the possibility of constructing an entertainment district in the Rose Quarter.

“We’re worried about Cordish chopping up the Rose Quarter,” said Brian Libby, a local architectural writer who has helped organize the campaign to save the coliseum.

According to Libby, Cordish’s other entertainment-oriented districts include a number of national chain restaurants, such as the Hard Rock Café. He believes that local architects would need to be involved to ensure this one reflects Portland’s character.

In addition, Libby argues that the entertainment district should be built along the riverfront west of the Rose Quarter, perhaps where the Thunderbird Motel once stood on Northeast Interstate.

“The waterfront is a huge asset that the Blazers, the city and Cordish are yet to take advantage of. They’d be much better served to think of the waterfront as an unofficial part of the Rose Quarter,” he said.

Finally, Libby believes that if the coliseum is saved, it could be integrated into the potential Blazer project, but only under certain conditions.

“The Blazers’ desire for an open-air music venue could be achieved with a little alteration to the coliseum. The building already is renowned for the daylight pouring into the arena when the curtain is open. You could cut a hole into the roof, or perhaps open up the riverfront-facing west facade, and it could be a hybrid indoor-outdoor arena. That way it could feel like an open-air arena in July and August, but still serve Portlanders with indoor concerts during the more plentiful rainy months,” he said.

Although Libby has no official role in the planning process, his interest shows that other coliseum supporters will likely want to get involved in it, perhaps requiring the Blazers to take their views into consideration to win council approval for their final plans.

In the meantime, the City Council is still struggling with the basic question of where to build the new Triple-A baseball stadium. Although the council had been scheduled to vote on replacing the coliseum with the baseball stadium on April 22, the vote was delayed because of opposition from the coliseum supporters.

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