Redeveloping the Rose Quarter: can Portland really trust Paul Allen?

Image courtesy ManhattanGathering.wordpresscom 

First of all, I'll be the first to admit that I may be way, way more passionate about Blazers basketball than the average person reading this architecture blog.

But it's a funny coincidence that the front page of today's Oregonian leads with a story by Ryan Frank called "Cultivating the Rose Quarter" on the morning after Blazers owner Paul Allen has inexplicably, ruinously, crazily fired general manager Kevin Pritchard, a veritable folk hero to Blazer fans who also is considered by NBA officials across the league as one of the best.

Consider this opening passage about Allen and the Rose Quarter in Frank's article:

"On a summer day in 1993, Portland Mayor Vera Katz and Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen piloted backhoes to unearth the city's next riverfront district.

Katz and Allen celebrated the team's new $262 million arena. But just as important, executives said, the team planned to dig up nearby parking lots and building restaurants, shops and more.

Seventeen years later, Allen and the Blazers enjoy a successful home court in the Rose Garden. But the surrounding district is still a garden of blacktop."

Clearly the firing of Kevin Pritchard and the ongoing issue of redeveloping the Rose Quarter are two separate stories. But they both have caused a great amount of bad blood amongst Portlanders. The connecting thread? Paul Allen.

It's true that for more than a year, as I and others in the Friends of Memorial Coliseum group have fought to preserve that building, the Trail Blazers franchise ultimately became an ally in the preservation effort. The team initially gave lukewarm approval to Merritt Paulson and Mayor Adams's plan to demolish the Coliseum, but then both parties backed away and the Blazers created a plan to preserve the building. They deserve full credit for that. When the two other finalists in the Stakeholder Advisory Committee process proposed projects that would more or less destroy the interior (MARC) or the interior and exterior (VMAAC), the Blazer plan offered the one sensible redevelopment of the Coliseum as arena.

Image courtesy Flickr.com 

But the Trail Blazers don't have to be the only entity to preserve the Coliseum. And even if they do continue to act as manager of the arena on behalf of the City of Portland (which owns the building), does that mean we should give Paul Allen's company the chance to redevelop the rest of the Rose Quarter?

The hideous and horribly functioning present state of the Rose Quarter would be reason enough not to let Allen's company be the redeveloper or overseer of this redevelopment. When you add to it the fact that they've aligned with the Cordish Company as developer, whose experience is in suburban-style, national-chain-heavy environments, that is at least strike two. But when you add to this toxic brew an owner who is increasingly seen  as an isolated, arrogant, out-of-touch, vicious, insensitive owner, it becomes a very, very difficult case to make that his anti-Midas touch should be allowed to blemish anything else here.

It pains me to write a lot of this, because I actually have a very positive opinion of the other people in the Blazers front office in Portland. In the past year of the Memorial Coliseum preservation campaign, I've had the opportunity to get to know J.E. Isaac, the Trail Blazers senior vice president of business affairs; Sarah Mensah, the team's chief marketing officer; and Bill Evans, the director of corporate communications. All three have struck me as good people who care about the local community and want to do right by our city. Unlike Allen, they live in the Portland area and have invested themselves here. But these poor folks have been wronged by Allen and Vulcan as much as the rest of us. It's too bad they work for a modern-day Howard Hughes.

Again, I know some of you reading this will see only my anger and emotion over the firing yesterday of general manager Kevin Pritchard. But there is indeed a legitimate, sober case to be made that the Pritchard incident is but the latest in a long, nearly two-decade-long string of disappointing management decisions by the organizations Paul Allen leads.

The Rose Quarter lies in the heart of central Portland. It is the largest and most important transit hub on the east side, and it has festered as a vast landscape of concrete and empty restaurants for too long. The district doesn't just need a facelift, but an utter transformation, with a vibrant riverfront scene, a mix of uses (including housing), and capable designers. It needs a planning process tied to the adjoining neighborhoods and city fabric (as Barry Johnson wrote in his excellent recent post on the Rose Quarter.)  And it needs a development team who commands unequivocal faith and possesses the utmost integrity. Does that sound like a job for Paul Allen?

Comments

[Scott Ritchie]

Short answer - "no"

[steve Rawley]

Of course we can't trust Paul Allen. Next question.

[Garrett]

I believe the point was made by many that the Friends of Memorial Coliseum were unwitting pawns of the Vulcans and that ultimately they would do whatever they wanted with the MC.

My guess. They'll gut the inside leaving only the glass frame. Nobody should trust Paul Allen further than he can be thrown.

[Brian Libby]

Another point to consider, passed to me by a local insider: The Blazers won't develop the RQ. They never intended. They just wanted to force Triple-A baseball out of the market so they could cannibalize the sponsorships.

[Keath]

Vulcans, in the world of star trek, are notoriously known for logic and the lack of emotions. It is no surprise that a recluse such as Mr. Alllen would choose such a fictional society to emulate in name and action. Everything that Vulcan is involved in, seems to lack an emotional tie to successes other than financial.

I am not surprised about pritchard nor the way it was handled. Unfortunately, I expect worse when it comes to the Rose Quarter. Allen is nothing more than the rich kid on the block who will take his ball and leave when he doesn't get his way.

[billb]

Yes B you are too emotional about Pritchard , many think he could not get us to the Finals , and had done all he could do. Try to remember that PA has spent a vast fortune trying to get the Blazers to the title , and join me in thanking him for trying. Did he do it yet , no , but he still might.

Trust him with the RQ , remember ol ronnie reagan said
something like
'trust, but verify'
Lets have a REAL international design competition. The spirit of the MC competition this past year was great [if not the result] And if you are reading PA , think of bringing in the best Architects in the world for a Big Time competition. Let's build a masterpiece not a mall!

[Mickey]

The Governor Oregon is cutting the state budget by 9% NEXT month. 100's of good jobs with benefits will be slashed around the state...a further domino effect on future state revenues.

The City of Portland is also in deficit. Not much in the press about this yet, but thE recent tax hikes 66 & 67 have upset 1000's of business owners and investors.

There will likely be another round of layoffs at the city by the end of the year.
More good jobs lost and so on.

The city is broke. Voters will not pass new bond measures going forward that are not absolutly vital for the survival of the city.

Therefore, nothing is going to happen in the RQ for a long time. The mayor's office continues its constituent based decision making in the hope re-election in 2012.
For example if you choose all three finalists to work together on the MC that may be good politics, but as reported, the MC refreshment is on hold.

Even super capitalist, Cordish is walking from the project. And the Blazer organization is frustrated.

Paul Allen has lost a full Billion dollars in the last 10 years here on the team and RQ.

It would be good stimulus for Portland
economics to rehab the MC now.

Portland needs a change of leadership at the City. The PDC gets 180 million dollars of our tax money each year to spend on stuff. Much of it has been squandered on bad deals and given to special interests with little oversight.

It's that simple. We must take back our city or the quality of life here will further deteriorate. If my comments seem radical, think it over. No Oregon editorial board censored these comments.

Just basic macro-economics at work here.

[thefuture]

It just seems like the political and financial environment is not where it should be to take on this project now. We are going to end up with a compromised solution if they move forward sooner than later.

The MC is safe for now which Brian you had a big part of making happen. I hope they focus on basketball, and chill on this development until things are better (for the blazers and the city). There are plenty of other projects that can be taken on as stimulus.

I usually don't think competitions are in the best interest of Architects, but in this case compared to what has already been proposed it'd be a great way to show alternative solutions that I'm confident would be much better for the city overall.

[K]

THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON PORTLAND ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM JUST SPENT A YEAR WITH ALLIED WORKS ARCHITECTURE ASSEMBLING IDEAS AND URBAN PLANS FOR THE ROSE QUARTER DISTRICT. THEIR WERE MANY GREAT IDEAS BROUGHT FORTH THAT COULD POTENTIALLY BE UTILIZED IN PART OR WHOLE FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND DISTRICT.

[Brian Libby]

Thanks for the comment, K, but easy on the all caps! :)

[thefuture]

K....Sounds awesome let's see it. Will it be presented to the public or presented online at all?

[Anton Vetterlein]

The Blazers/Cordish Rose Quarter proposal is generic and formulaic and without inspiration. The "Jump Town" name is appropriated from Robert Dietsche's book which describes the lively ferment of musicians and small entrepreneurs that existed in the area previously. What has happened in the Williams Avenue area since demolition and "renewal" has been the antithesis of that, including this latest proposal. The city of Portland would be better to invest $5.4 million in supporting existing businesses in the central city than to create more competition for them. I would rather see the Rose Quarter languish for another decade than to spend a lot of money and effort on another bad idea. Ultimately, the Rose Quarter should be re-developed as the city's transportation hub with a new underground train station serving high speed regional train service. When that happens the Rose Quarter will rock 365 days a year.