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More than a year after closing O’Bryant Square because of structural deficiencies, Portland Parks & Recreation still has no capital budget, no design and only a vague time line for reopening the half-block plaza in downtown Portland.

Parks officials hope to reopen the public plaza by 2023. By then, it’s possible that a neighboring 35-story mixed-use tower, not yet started but expected to hold more than 1 million square feet of space, will be completed.

City officials, architects and downtown business owners met Wednesday to discuss the future of O’Bryant Square as part of Design Week Portland. The event, hosted by Hennebery Eddy Architects, came as O’Bryant Square was closed for the 399th consecutive day.

Hennebery Eddy Architects, led by associate principal Will Ives, has worked pro bono on various design concepts for O’Bryant Square. The early concepts have focused on creating a 鈥渇lexible, open public space,鈥� Ives said.

The parks bureau closed O’Bryant Square on March 5, 2018, after visible structural issues were discovered in the underground parking garage. The bureau soon erected a fence that has remained in place.

In the months since, the city has made little progress on reopening the plaza.

鈥淚t’s nothing urgent or imminent,鈥� Parks & Recreation spokesman Mark Ross said.

At the same time, the parks bureau has struggled with a $7 million budget deficit, and is considering closing Sellwood Community Center and Columbia Pool in ongoing budget talks. 鈥淲e have a lot of needs and very little money,鈥� Ross said.

The parks bureau has dedicated $1.5 million in system development charges toward planning for O’Bryant Square’s future. The bureau’s proposed 2019-20 budget includes no additional funding for O’Bryant Square.

A full rebuild of the plaza is estimated to cost $10 million or more.

鈥淔or us, that is a huge lift,鈥� said Britta Herwig, the parks bureau’s capital program manager.

The parks bureau has also undergone leadership transitions. Adena Long, formerly of New York City, was appointed parks director in February; Kia Selley had served as interim director for several months after Mike Abbat茅 resigned in May 2018.

In August 2018, Mayor Ted Wheeler reassigned oversight of the bureau from Commissioner Amanda Fritz to Commissioner Nick Fish.

鈥淲e absolutely have common cause in getting it reopened,鈥� said Sonia Schmanski, Fish’s chief of staff.

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office has also been involved in O’Bryant Square discussions. Eudaly’s chief of staff, Marshall Runkle, is awaiting the results of soil tests. Initial analysis suggested soils are pressing laterally against the parking structure, Runkle said.

Depending on the results of the soil tests, Runkle is working on a plan to reopen O’Bryant Square pending a long-term project to rebuild the plaza.

鈥淲e’re going hard on: is there an interim solution?鈥� Runkle said. 鈥淲e should know in a matter of weeks the results of those tests, and I think that will help us get to the next step in this conversation.鈥�

O’Bryant Square opened in 1967 as a continuation of the Park Blocks, Parks Foundation Executive Director Randy Gragg said. It arrived as Portland was establishing public spaces throughout downtown, including Lovejoy Plaza in 1966 and Keller Fountain Park in 1970.

O’Bryant Square was for a time a vibrant gathering place for Portlanders, Gragg said.

鈥淭his is where people went to mourn the death of John Lennon in 1980,鈥� he said.

Over time, O’Bryant Square came to be associated with drug use and homelessness. The plaza suffered from a lack of ground-floor activity on neighboring blocks to the north, west and east, where large office buildings and a parking lot lack retail spaces facing the plaza. The fountain was shut off in the early 2000s.

鈥淚t’s sort of a textbook case of how not to design a park for public use,鈥� Gragg said.

Use of the park grew during the recession as the parking lot on Block 216 became a popular attraction for food carts. Many customers of the block’s more than 50 food carts would eat their meals in O’Bryant Square. The remaining food carts are expected to be evicted as soon as this summer to prepare for excavation of the tower site.

There have been some suggestions from Gragg and others that O’Bryant Square could be part of a Culinary Corridor through downtown Portland. The City Council may consider a resolution to that effect, Runkle said.

There should be a solution for O’Bryant Square, said Tim Eddy, president of Hennebery Eddy Architects.

鈥淚t was an open space that had its issues, but it was a really valuable, heavily used open space in downtown Portland,鈥� he said.