Portland City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to authorize issuance of revenue bonds totaling up to $80 million (plus associated costs) to finance curb, ramp and street improvement projects in the city.

The ordinance provides funding for Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades through fiscal year 2026–2027 in compliance with a federal settlement agreement. The bonds will be repaid over 15 years, with annual debt service estimated at $7.68 million to be split evenly between the city’s general fund and transportation operating fund.

As part of the settlement agreement, the city of Portland is required to provide at least 1,500 new or remediated, ADA-compliant curb ramps per year through 2030.

The bonds will finance a portion of projected curb, ramp and street improvements required by the settlement agreement through fiscal year 2026-2027. During that time frame, the balance of annual projected settlement agreement costs is expected to be funded within related Portland Bureau of Transportation capital improvement budgets and/or other transportation revenues.

The funding will be used to complete a minimum of 1,500 new or remediated, ADA-compliant curb ramps in the next two fiscal years, plus reimbursement for certain related project expenditures that occurred in fiscal year 2024-2025 in compliance with the settlement agreement.

During a City Council meeting on April 23, PBOT Director Millicent Williams said that the project is on pace, but delivery of ramps is an expensive venture. The bond funding will allow the project team to continue its work at its current pace. PBOT designed the ADA ramps in-house, Williams said.

PBOT’s intent is to return before the council in two years to seek additional funding.

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Portland is seeking a $15 million grant from the United States Department of Transportation to fund local streets at Broadway Corridor.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is designing two new urban streets, NW Johnson and Kearney, and a new traffic signal critical for 4 million square feet of mixed-use, urban development at the former USPS site in Portland’s Central City. Most of the properties within the Broadway Corridor are owned by Prosper Portland, including the 14-acre former U.S. Postal Service site, which is jointly owned with the Portland Housing Bureau.

While the city has a funding and finance plan for Broadway Corridor improvements, staff have identified a federal funding opportunity through the U.S Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to offset local financial commitments.

Portland City Council‘s ordinance, passed Wednesday, authorizes PBOT and Prosper Portland to submit a grant application to the United States Department of Transportation, which would award up to $15 million for the ongoing redevelopment of Broadway Corridor, including development at the former USPS site, which could include affordable housing. Demolition of the former USPS building took place last week.

Steve Szigethy, PBOT capital division manager, said during the city council meeting Wednesday that this is the bureau’s second attempt at the RAISE grant, as they applied for it last year as well. The grant would go toward building the extension of NW Johnson and Kearney Streets.

The total project budget is $22 million. The $15 million RAISE grant would be matched by $6 million in Local Improvement District revenue and $1 million in Systems Development Charges. While the city can pay for the project, the grant would help reduce the city’s financial committment by paying for much of the project. If the city does not receive the grant, it would revert to the council-approved funding and finance plan, which includes funding from PBOT SDCs, Prosper Portland land sales and LIDs.

RAISE grant applications are due Feb. 28.

In the fall, PBOT plans to issue a best value request for proposals for street construction. Szigethy said that contracting method will allow PBOT to meet community benefit agreement goals around equitable contracting and to select a qualified contractor for the project.

Street construction is scheduled to begin in February 2024 and be completed in August 2025. Phased development of new office and housing towers will follow for the next 15 to 20 years. The construction of a new park and the Green Loop bike and pedestrian pathway will also be phased in during that timeframe, according to the project’s website.

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The Portland City Council has unanimously approved taking ownership of 82nd Avenue, paving the way to fulfill longstanding community aspirations for the street to become a safe community destination rather than a highway.

The transfer of ownership of the road from the Oregon Department of Transportation to the Portland Bureau of Transportation becomes official June 1. On that date, service requests for everything from potholes and snowplowing to permits for utility work and long-term planning become the responsibility of PBOT. The Building a Better 82nd project includes near-term critical fixes followed by additional future investments. For critical fixes, PBOT will invest $80 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding during the next four years. These dollars were approved by the Oregon Legislature to design and deliver lighting, safer pedestrian crossings, pavement repair, and sidewalk accessibility upgrades. These improvements will be followed by future projects to be paid for via $105 million in state and local funding, available in 2026.

Beginning this fall, PBOT will work in partnership with the community to identify and prioritize future transportation investments through the community engagement process, including online and in-person community forums, focus groups, surveys, and partnerships with existing community organizations. PBOT will work with organizations including Oregon Walks and APANO to amplify community voices, particularly those people who are historically underrepresented in planning processes. PBOT will continue to work with government partners including Metro, TriMet, and other city bureaus to coordinate responses to community needs and deliver improvements.

Long known as one of the most dangerous streets in Portland, 82nd Avenue is home to some of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Oregon. The seven-mile road stretches from Northeast Killingsworth Street in the Cully neighborhood to the Clackamas County line at Southeast Clatsop Street in the Lents neighborhood. More than 20,000 vehicle trips take place daily on 82nd Avenue. Bus Line 72 on the corridor has the highest ridership of any bus route in the TriMet regional public transit system.

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At the Portland City Council meeting Wednesday, commissioners voted to accept about $17 million in federal grants distributed by Metro through the Regional Flexible Funding Allocation program for four new capital projects.

With a local match of about $11.8 million from the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the four projects will bring improvements to Northeast 122nd Avenue, North Willamette Boulevard, Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and on the Southeast Stark/Washington streets corridor in East Portland.

The four PBOT projects were drawn from projects already identified in its long-range plan and reflect community priorities for active transportation, meaning projects that improve safety for people walking, biking, and accessing public transit. With the money approved, each project will begin being developed by a team of planners, project managers and engineers before starting construction in late 2025 at the earliest, according to a news release.

A high crash corridor, Northeast 122nd Avenue currently has long distances between safe pedestrian crossings. The funded improvements will include new signalized street crossings at or near Northeast Beech Street, Northeast Sacramento and Brazee streets, near Northeast Broadway and Hancock, and between Northeast Wasco and Multnomah.

PBOT currently is completing a comprehensive corridor plan for 122nd Avenue, and the locations were selected based on public feedback as well as staff analysis. The total project budget is $6.4 million.

On North Willamette Boulevard, PBOT will construct an active transportation corridor with 3 miles of protected bike lanes, new pedestrian crossings and improved ADA access, as well as better, more accessible bus stops to make access to transit safer and easier. The total project budget is $6 million.

Developed in close partnership with the Soul District Business Association are five new pedestrian crossing improvements on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Northeast Holman, Emerson, Mason, Failing and Cook streets. The project also includes funding for traffic signal modifications and safety improvements at Northeast Killingsworth and Fremont streets. The total project budget is $4.7 million.

The Southeast Stark and Southeast Washington corridor, between Southeast 92nd and 109th avenues, will see safety improvements for all modes. Among the planned improvements are new transit islands and bus lanes, protected bike lanes, improved pedestrian crossings at existing signals, a new pedestrian crossing at Southeast 105th Avenue, new ADA curb ramps and street lighting, as well as pavement repair. The total project budget is $11.4 million.

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O’Bryant Square has languished for nearly four years, as the city of Portland has struggled to devise a workable, funded plan to redevelop the half-block plaza in downtown.

Now the city has put forward a proposal to redevelop the square that would rely in part on a $5 million federal grant. The city would contribute an additional $4.44 million to revitalize the park space between Southwest Park and Ninth avenues, and Washington and Harvey Milk streets.

The Portland Office of Management and Finance submitted a grant application to the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) on Jan. 28, requesting $5 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The plan was forged by three city bureaus: Parks and Recreation, Transportation, and Planning and Sustainability.

The city would use the funding, if awarded, to demolish the structurally unsound 21,000-square-foot parking garage. Public engagement, design and construction to rebuild the half-acre park would follow, according to a copy of the , which was obtained through a public records request.

The $9.44 million project budget also calls for construction of Green Loop street improvements in the area; the Green Loop is set to connect to the Ankeny West food cart pod a couple of blocks north of O’Bryant Square. Portions of the Green Loop would wrap around the square on Southwest Ninth Avenue and on Southwest Harvey Milk Street, providing pedestrian and bicycle routes as well as public space.

The city also wants to use some of the federal funding to improve and make permanent Pride Plaza – an LGBTQ-friendly area in the West End. Pride Plaza sprang up during closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Portions of Southwest Harvey Milk Street were closed to vehicle traffic as the pandemic took hold in 2020, and nearby businesses erected outdoor seating.

City officials abruptly fenced off O’Bryant Square on March 5, 2018, citing structural deficiencies related to the underground SmartPark garage. The public plaza has since continued to deteriorate. It’s increasingly incongruous as more than a billion dollars in new development rises nearby, including the $600 million, 35-story Ritz-Carlton tower under construction diagonally across Washington Street, and the 25-story Eleven West building two blocks west.

Downtown business interests are eager to see the city move forward after years of inter-bureau wrangling and inaction.

“Obviously, O’Bryant Square itself, it’s very important that gets reopened,” said Matthew Goodman, vice president of Downtown Development Group, the developer of Eleven West. “It’s been far too long.”

Walt Bowen, CEO of BPM Real Estate, the developer of the Ritz-Carlton tower on Block 216, declined to answer questions. A spokesman, Pat Walsh, stated in an email: “A new park will greatly benefit the Green Loop.”

Development of O’Bryant Square would leave residual floor-area-ratio development rights that could be sold to a private developer, according to the city’s application. The city would dedicate any revenue from the sale of FAR to the project’s matching funds. The city estimates the project would create 205 jobs and help retain 84 jobs.

The grant process is competitive, an EDA spokesman said. Portland’s application will be evaluated by an investment review committee, and if successful, will advance to the agency’s assistant secretary for final approval.

Portland’s Hennebery Eddy Architects has done pro-bono design work to show what O’Bryant Square could become. The firm’s office in the Pittock Block overlooks the plaza.

“Hennebery Eddy is strongly in favor of moving the demolition and redesign of O’Bryant Square forward as soon as humanly possible,” Tim Eddy, president of the firm, stated in an email. “The square has been in a steady state of decline for more than three decades and is in a critical location in downtown relative to surrounding historic buildings, new development and the Green Loop.”

Design and development would begin this year, with construction scheduled to wrap up in July 2027, according to the grant proposal.

Some observers said they were frustrated by the lengthy delays.

“By the time O’Bryant Square is completely redeveloped, it will have probably been close to a decade at that point,” said Iain MacKenzie, who runs the Next Portland architecture and development blog. “Nonetheless, I think there’s a great vision there.”

Mark Ross, spokesman for Portland Parks and Recreation, stated that the lack of funding for garage demolition has held up the project.

“The proposed schedule reflects the complexity of the project and the remaining due diligence, design, resource development, engineering and engagement work required to support construction,” Ross stated. “Once funded, PP&R will work with city partners to expedite project delivery.”

Commissioner Carmen Rubio has allocated $3 million in parks system development charges to expand capacity at O’Bryant Square.

Portland should carefully consider engaging a landscape architect to turn the temporary improvements at Pride Plaza into a lasting public space, MacKenzie said.

“We very rarely do very high-quality public realm projects in Portland,” he said. “I’d love to see something that really did redevelop Harvey Milk and make those two, potentially three, blocks really a pedestrian-focused and inviting public realm that people would specifically go to, to visit.”

Food-cart advocate Keith Jones has been working to relocate carts to the area between O’Bryant Square and East Burnside Street. He sees the Green Loop improvements as part of the Cart Blocks concept, formerly known as the Culinary Corridor, connecting the Ankeny West pod to O’Bryant Square. The concept originated when more than 50 food carts were evicted from Block 216 to make way for the tower.

Jones is looking to possibly install shipping containers on Ankeny Street between Southeast Eighth and Park avenues that would host retail businesses. Another idea he’s floated is to station a double-decker bus at Burnside Street with service of coffee in the morning and alcohol at night.

“I’m looking at it as an opportunity to continue to extend resilient outdoor businesses toward O’Bryant Square and connecting it to Ankeny West,” he said.

The block has some flaws. Architects who have studied O’Bryant Square point to dead zones to the north and east: the blank walls of the Union Bank Building and a CenturyLink telecommunications building, and a small parking lot.

“If the grant’s successful, it’s an opportunity to start over with an urban park that has had a difficult, troubled history, and it’s an opportunity to enliven a part of downtown that is extremely challenging,” said Randy Gragg, executive director of the Portland Parks Foundation.

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Construction of a new Burnside Bridge may force the closure of the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade for up to 30 months. With the esplanade potentially sidelined for years, some advocates want to reconsider what the Portland public path can be.

Willie Levenson of the Human Access Project is pushing for a remake of the esplanade that would provide “toes in the water” access to the Willamette River. That would be accomplished with terraced steps.

“Terraced seating is a concept that is found regionally, nationally and internationally,” Levenson stated in written comments submitted to Multnomah County. “It is a very elegant way to acknowledge the highs and lows of a river and flood control seasonally, while providing passive recreational opportunities. As the river rises, stairs will be underwater. As the river lowers, more stairs are revealed. This serves as an alternative to riprap armoring and offers better functionality.”

Levenson is presenting the concept as appropriate mitigation for the closure of the esplanade. He’s had several discussions with county and city officials, and submitted his ideas, complete with an architectural rendering and images of precedents from around the world, as a public comment for the Burnside Bridge project’s draft environmental impact statement.

Levenson said it’s too early to discuss his ideas for changes to the esplanade, and declined to discuss the proposal in detail.

“This is something we are doing for fun,” he said. “We know it’s a long shot, but you just never know. We are looking for the right engineer and surveyor to join our volunteer team.”

But in addition to the public comments he submitted to Multnomah County, Levenson has shopped his proposal widely to local government officials and other stakeholders such as the Central Eastside Industrial Council.

“We ran this by (Bureau of Environmental Services staffers); they love the plan,” Levenson said during a CEIC meeting in March. “(Parks & Recreation) loves the plan. We are getting nothing but support for this idea.”

The idea to enhance the 1.5-mile pathway comes as it is being squeezed by major road and bridge projects. The esplanade, a key north-south connection for bicycle commuters and recreational users, sits among key transportation infrastructure, hemmed in by Interstate 5, bridges to the north and south and the river itself.

The county’s drive to build a new Burnside Bridge is expected to lead to construction beginning in 2025. The esplanade, which passes directly underneath the bridge, could close and reopen throughout the construction timeline.

“It could be several different periods,” said Mike Pullen, spokesman for Multnomah County. “We know that’s way too long for people who use the esplanade, so we’re trying to reduce that as much as we can, but we also need to keep workers safe and the public safe.”

The esplanade will need to be closed when the existing span is removed, and again at certain points when the new bridge is installed, Pullen said.

Completed in 2001, the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade is used for 1,500 bike trips and 1,550 pedestrian trips daily, according to the county. Those numbers are expected to rise to 2,650 for bikes and 2,700 for pedestrians by 2045.

In the two decades since, the pathway has become a much-loved part of Portland’s transportation infrastructure. It is used by bicyclist and pedestrian commuters as well as downtown workers looking for exercise. On Monday, the path was filled with walkers, runners, bicyclists, people on scooters and one worker painting over graffiti.

David Stein, a Portland bicycle advocate, said he’s urged county officials to minimize closures and provide more direct detours.

“The esplanade represents a really high-quality, low-stress bikeway and walkway, and it’s being replaced by a significantly more circuitous route that’s higher stress,” said Stein, who serves as chairman of the Transportation Bureau’s Bicycle Advisory Committee but was speaking as an individual.

Stein said he was disappointed with the planned disruptions to the esplanade, particularly compared to the minimal closures expected for the adjacent interstate.

“It really puts into contrast the ease of which it’s possible to deprioritize active modes of transportation,” he said.

The esplanade is owned by the city of Portland and overseen by Portland Parks & Recreation, with the Bureau of Transportation and other city bureaus playing significant roles.

It’s unclear at this point if county and city officials will buy in to Levenson’s concept. He did not advance a cost estimate in his public comments.

“It’s way beyond what we were planning in terms of scale, but it’s an interesting concept,” Pullen said of Levenson’s proposal.

Portland Parks & Recreation isn’t planning to remake the esplanade at this time, spokesman Mark Ross stated in an email.

“Portland Parks & Recreation doesn’t have any pending plans for major work along the esplanade,” he stated. “We are working closely with Multnomah County as they plan for Burnside Bridge work and ODOT … on their respective plans in the area. We appreciate the Human Access Project’s continued advocacy.”

Parks & Recreation has a degree of leverage to demand mitigation for any impacts to the esplanade. A provision in the federal Department of Transportation Act requires construction to avoid impacts to parks, and to mitigate any impacts that cannot be avoided. In the case of the recent Sellwood Bridge project, for example, Multnomah County mitigated impacts by paying for new trees to be planted at the bridge’s west end.

It’s unclear what mitigation will be required for the Burnside Bridge project.

“Before we construct the new bridge, we will work out these details with Portland Parks & Recreation,” Pullen said.

The county is also focused on improving connections between the proposed Burnside Bridge replacement and the esplanade. For now, there’s one staircase – an access point that is regarded as inadequate for disabled persons and nonmotorized vehicles.

“Any connection that is built between a new bridge and the esplanade will need support from the city in terms of approval,” Pullen said. “Who’s going to pay for it isn’t really known. The city is a huge player.”

The esplanade has survived other challenges. Last year, local outcry fended off a roadway widening proposed by the Oregon Department of Transportation that would have resulted in a larger I-5 looming over the esplanade.

The widening plan sparked protests by the city of Portland and citizens, who flooded ODOT with critical comments. In response, ODOT redesigned the project last year to eliminate construction in the Willamette River and the highway encroachment over the esplanade. Instead, ODOT plans to re-stripe I-5 in both directions, shift the highway median to the east and narrow the existing shoulders, according to the agency’s revised environmental assessment for the project.

ODOT considers the problem solved.

“We do not anticipate any impacts to the esplanade,” ODOT spokeswoman April de Leon-Galloway stated in an email.

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The pandemic killed Urban Development + Partners‘ plans to build a hotel in Portland’s burgeoning Central Eastside neighborhood.

Now UD+P is back with a proposal for a seven-story building with residential units above a ground-floor café and other space at 550 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

A hotel development “essentially became unfeasible,” said Marcus Lima, a GBD Architects associate principal. Now GBD is working with UD+P on a new program – with a residential scheme.

Plans presented to the Portland Design Commission on Thursday call for approximately 120 residential units on floors two through seven. The ground floor would have a café, bike parking and other amenities.

The hotel project was approved by the Design Commission in 2017. With an essentially new project, the developer and architect must start the design review process anew.

The development will continue to change as the design is refined, Lima said.

“It has evolved and will continue to evolve before we come in for a design review submittal,” he said.

As currently designed, the building would be approximately 85 feet tall. Surface parking would be approximately 60 spaces. The site is slightly smaller than a half-block.

UD+P was thrown a curveball by a Portland Bureau of Transportation decision to designate the frontage along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard as a pedestrian district, requiring a 3-foot-wide dedication. That reduced the footprint available for the building.

“So our site that was already kind of constricted is now even more constricted,” Lima said.

UD+P and GBD floated a potential modification to ground-floor active use design guidelines that require 25 feet of depth from the face of the building to the back of retail spaces. The proposal does not meet the guideline along 50 percent of its façade as required.

A majority of the commissioners said they would not approve a modification; only two were in favor of granting the exception.

“It shouldn’t feel like you’re walking next to a dead zone or alleyway,” Commissioner Jessica Molinar said.

The café would be open after hours to residents who want to work or gather there, Lima said.

Without a modification, the development would have to shrink, said Katherine Schultz, director of GBD Architects.

“The option is to lose units … or to lose parking spaces,” she said.

The building would rise in a fast-growing commercial area. New developments including District Office and Hotel Chamberlain are rapidly transforming the Central Eastside neighborhood into a modern commercial area.

The 550 MLK project would add an atypical residential element.

“It is really hard to land a residential project in a warehouse district,” Commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said.

Commissioners critiqued the initial design. Zari Santner said the building needed a more distinct base, middle and top. Molinar and Livingston suggested the north and south elevations needed improvement so they wouldn’t appear to be sidewalls.

The building should have “one single, clear expression that wraps all the way around,” Livingston added.

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A four-story affordable housing complex planned for 3000 S.E. Powell Blvd. still lacks sign-offs from two city bureaus.

The Portland Design Commission examined the project from the Portland Housing Bureau and nonprofit developer Home Forward, but did not take a vote during a design review hearing.

Both the Portland Bureau of Transportation and Bureau of Environmental Services said their requirements for the project had not been satisfied. PBOT officials said the project still needs preliminary permit approval from the Oregon Department of Transportation for access from Southeast Powell Boulevard – a state highway that is regulated by ODOT. PBOT also must approve improvements to Southeast 30th Avenue, which currently is an unimproved roadway at the project location.

BES said it needs more information on the project’s private stormwater management system and public improvements.

The planned complex would add 206 subsidized housing units – an important component of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s pledge to add 1,300 affordable units via the $258.4 million bond that voters approved in November 2016.

Holst Architecture is designing the project, which has gone through three design advice request hearings, most recently in June 2020. The project team will return Feb. 4 for a second design review hearing.

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As crews continue to work on the Blumenauer Bridge project in Portland, preparation is under way to install the main span across Interstate 84 in February – a major construction move that will require closure of the highway for a full weekend.

The installation will be a milestone for the effort to build the bicycle and pedestrian bridge at Northeast Seventh Avenue. Once the span is in place, about six months of additional work will be necessary to finish the project, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The $13.7 million bridge will provide a key north-south connection for Northeast Portland, city officials said.

“Lloyd and the Central Eastside are two of our fastest-growing neighborhoods,” PBOT spokeswoman Hannah Schafer said. “There are a lot of folks who want to come from Northeast to Southeast or downtown, and this will provide an overpass to do that.”

Blumenauer Bridge, known previously in planning as Sullivan’s Crossing, will extend 475 feet and span 24 feet in width. The bridge will have a 14-foot-wide path for two-way bicycle traffic, and a 10-foot-wide path for pedestrians.

KPFF designed the tied-arch span structure. HP Civil Inc., based in Stayton, is serving as construction manager-general contractor. West Side Iron Inc. of Springfield, a state-certified minority business enterprise, is delivering and assembling the bridge structure.

Overall, the project has more than 30 percent participation from woman-owned, minority-owned or disadvantaged businesses, Schafer said.

The project team has encountered a number of obstacles. Conduit has been tough to come by, said Trey Senatore, a PBOT public works inspector.

“We’ve had huge delays in getting materials,” he said.

Social distancing required by the state’s response to the pandemic has also slowed work. Although the guidelines are critical, Senatore said, “it’s hard to work as efficiently as you can with those guidelines in place.”

Schafer said she was not aware of any positive COVID-19 tests among project workers.

Staging and storage have also proved tough on the tight site, PBOT officials said.

Installation of the span will mark an important moment for the project team. A work bridge is being built from the north side. A gantry crane will be used to slowly move the span into place.

A date for the I-84 closure has not been set, but PBOT officials are tentatively targeting a weekend in mid-February. Both lanes of the interstate will be closed from Friday night to Monday morning to minimize disruptions to commuters.

Blumenauer Bridge, named for Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, a well-known bicycling advocate, is being constructed at the same time as Flanders Crossing, another bridge that will be off-limits to motor vehicles. Flanders Crossing is shorter and spans Interstate 405 in West Portland. The project teams are separate, with Wildish Standard Paving Co. leading construction of Flanders Crossing.

Along with Tilikum Crossing, the car-free bridges further Portland’s push to connect residents to workplaces without vehicle commuting. Blumenauer Bridge has been embraced by bike advocates.

“It’s extremely valuable as a connection because we’ve really missed out on some chances to put connections on the MLK-Grand couplet,” said Jonathan Maus, editor and publisher of Bike Portland, a popular news website for transportation issues. “We really need better north-south connections, and connecting it on (Northeast Seventh Avenue) is great.”

The bridge will form a link of the Green Loop, the city’s concept for a route through central Portland that prioritizes bicyclists and pedestrians on both sides of the Willamette River.

A screen will block any objects from being thrown off the bridge, but there will be spaces for bridge users to take photos to the west, where the bridge will have striking views of downtown and the West Hills.

PBOT project manager Dan Layden praised the bridge’s “landmark design.”

“It will be one of those things that Portland is known for,” he said.

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A plan to reform O’Bryant Square, in downtown Portland, is slowly advancing, more than two years after the plaza was abruptly closed because of structural issues with the parking garage underneath.

The city of Portland is investigating potential demolition of the underground garage and ground-level plaza. A contractor doing design work for all of the city’s garages is also evaluating options for O’Bryant Square, Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dylan Rivera stated in an email message.

“We’re asking our contractor to give us an estimate for what it would cost to remove the parking garage and deliver a site that will be usable for our partners at Portland Parks & Recreation,” Rivera stated.

Portland Parks & Recreation plans to eventually build anew on the half-block site between Southwest Washington and Harvey Milk streets, and Ninth and Park avenues, according to a spokesman.

“A�ڳٱ�� PBOT fills in the parking garage, Portland Parks & Recreation will work with the community, adjacent property owners and other stakeholders to build a new park on the site’s surface,” Parks bureau spokesman Mark Ross stated in an email. “The exact schedule is unknown at this time.”

A contractor, IML Services of Vancouver, Washington, submitted an early assistance application July 22 on the city’s behalf for demolition of the garage and park.

“The contractor needs this permit to gather the details we need for a good cost estimate,” Rivera stated.

“Our goal is to remove as little material as possible,” he added. “For example, if we can preserve the sidewalks and trees, that might be one way to save money.”

Portland Parks & Recreation, the plaza’s owner, has been hampered by budget cuts.

O’Bryant Square has been closed since March 5, 2018, when structural deficiencies were found. The approximately half-block square was a popular lunch spot for workers in the area as well as tourists visiting the Block 216 food cart pod until it closed in June 2019 to allow construction of a 35-story mixed-use tower that will include a Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Hennebery Eddy Architects and downtown advocates have been involved in imagining for O’Bryant Square a future design that reflects the Park Blocks to the north and south.

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