FILE - Portland State University campus in Portland, Ore., on June 29, 2024.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Officials across Portland want the Rose City to have the ability to host Broadway shows long into the future. But leaders haven’t reached a decision on how, or where, to do that.
Now leaders at Portland State University have revealed more about their vision for a performing arts venue, hotel and conference center on their downtown campus.
The PSU proposal is one of the options Portland City Council could move forward with. The others are to update the earthquake-vulnerable Keller Auditorium or to both renovate the Keller and build a new venue at PSU.
Although no official decision has been made, the university says it’s secured a potential development partner and funding for the adjacent hotel and conference center should the project move forward.
Portland-based Colas Development Group has agreed to exclusive negotiations with PSU to develop a 150-room hotel and meeting venue, university officials announced Tuesday. The potential partnership represents a $70 million private investment in the downtown campus.
In a statement, PSU president Ann Cudd called the move a “meaningful step” that shows the hotel near the university’s proposed performing arts venue “is generating the kind of private investment opportunities that can serve as a catalyst, energizing downtown Portland long into the future.”
Leaders from Portland State University's student government showed support for faculty impacted by layoffs at a Jan. 24 Board of Trustees meeting.
Tiffany Camhi / OPB
The announcement comes at a tough time for PSU. The university is implementing a cost-cutting plan called “Bridge to the Future 2.0” which leaders hope will stabilize finances after years of declining enrollment and tight budgets. Two weeks ago, PSU leaders announced plans to eliminate two signature programs, shrink seven departments and lay off 52 employees. Cudd has said the university is looking to focus on its strengths, including its role as an urban institution serving Oregon’s largest city.
Healthy downtowns often include a thriving performing arts venue as an economic and cultural anchor. The pandemic dealt a big hit to Portland’s performing arts spaces, which have yet to fully recover. At the same time, the number of people experiencing homelessness, mental illness or drug addiction in the downtown corridor continues to go up.
At a Portland City Council meeting discussing the future of Keller Auditorium in October 2024, commissioners signaled hope that investment in performing arts could help speed up downtown’s recovery.
FILE - Keller Auditorium, in Southwest Portland, in this undated handout image.
Jason Quigley / Courtesy of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts
If the project on the PSU campus moves forward, the city would own the performing arts venue. The hotel and conference center would be entirely funded from private investment, according to Jason Franklin, associate vice president for planning, construction and real estate at PSU.
“We wanted to develop something that was unique, something that had activity seven days a week,” Franklin told OPB. “And to do that we want to drive as much traffic to the site as possible, and so having a hotel, having private investment on the site became important to us.”
Franklin said entering into an exclusive negotiation with a development company is a common step for a complex real estate transaction like this project would be. The two sides plan to work together for the next six months to see if the Colas Development Group is the right partner for the project should it move forward, Franklin said.
Colas has been involved in many projects throughout the city. In 2019, the firm served as general contractor for major upgrades to the Oregon Convention Center in Northeast Portland.
But in order for any project to move forward, Portland’s cash-strapped city council must sign off on it. It’s unclear if that will happen within the next six months.
City spokesperson Cody Bowman said in an email that the City is studying the proposed projects and expects expert recommendations for next steps in the coming weeks.
“While Portland State University has announced progress related to components of its broader development proposal,” Bowman said, “no final decisions have been made regarding the future of large-scale performing arts in downtown Portland.”
