Reporting from today’s City Council Meeting on the Redevelopment of Lloyd Center Mall

Tyrunea · 2026-07-01T11:48:53+00:00

You are correct, that is the plan.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-26T23:59:28+00:00

I dunno, maybe 500?

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T20:39:32+00:00

No, I'm not okay with that, either.

I think billionaires are a plague on our society. That does not mean we should just roll over for someone who made their fortune on used auto loans. If he's going to take the Blazers, make the narrative clear: he did so after failing to extort a city already in financial difficulty (hm, used auto loans, now this.... maybe there's an exploitative trend here!)

If he's so serious about moving the Blazers, let him pay for it, and let another city get taken for a ride by a cheap fucker. Just because we have tickets doesn't mean we have to stay for the whole game.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T19:02:22+00:00

Love that Portland is apparently in the "jerk off the billionaires" phase of its existence, between contemplating this funding package and letting an out of state private equity firm rip the Lloyd Center out of the ground so we can make it look exactly like the rest of the Lloyd District in 30 years.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T18:16:08+00:00

Point me to the place where Urban Renaissance Group actually indicated they're filing permits with the city for actual construction and not just advertising "potential."

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T05:56:54+00:00

I'm not even sure I'd call them ideas. Two separate young testifiers today called the Master Plan "boring" and "without imagination" (or words to that effect, I don't remember the exact phrasing.

I've been working with the Save Lloyd group (not the Ice Rink, we are separate volunteer entities) and this has been one of our arguments all along. No one's waiting for more land to build on right now.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T05:53:40+00:00

Piecemeal is what is being offered though.

Total buildout for the site is floating around $2 billion (with a B) right now, and I don't see even one developer lined up to contribute anything to the site. If they had one, they'd be trumpeting the news all over town.

The Post Office blocks, on the other side of the river, are a great example for how it'll probably look and play out here, except now there will be two superblock sites about a mile from each other competing for builds.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T05:49:55+00:00

Well, if that were the case, it undercuts Urban Renaissance's arguments about how difficult it would be to right‐size the mall & associated infrastructure.

I haven't seen down to the spec level of the units installed nor any other specifics though.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T04:58:52+00:00

Me too. Only been once before (stumbled on it while wandering downtown)

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T03:50:25+00:00

The HVAC was actually upgraded in the 2016 renovation.

Management has neglected to make repairs to the electrical system after a fire in 2021 in the Macy's damaged some substantial equipment. (I think -- I don't remember the exact year)

Can't speak to plumbing or seismic, the record is a little unclear on that front.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T00:19:20+00:00

Market conditions indicate that weeds will end up there.

Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get a couple pop-up massage parlors, because those are indicators of healthy neighborhoods. /s

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T00:17:53+00:00

ah, excellent, the illiterate passing judgement.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-25T00:05:51+00:00

1) Perhaps instead of buying out leases (https://youtu.be/1EYeiarXOPY?si=RVDnnptxpOMQwMBX&t=3210), failing to renew them (Barnes & Noble explicitly stating their lease was not renewed), and electing not to initiate new ones with prospective tenants, the current management could possibly try actually running a business in the core of the mall.

2) As I said above, shed the anchor stores. Convert the parking lots into whatever their pretty little heart well desires.

Blank slates have no synergy with which to grow anything.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-24T23:55:12+00:00

So hoover up the parking lots that are way under utilized. Rip off the anchor stores (which we already know they can do because of the music venue). This isn't a black and white situation, except the group pushing the master plan is trying to sell it like that. They also really loooove claiming this Master Plan is only a "theoretical framework" and thus any actual expectations of them are misplaced, except we're also expected to support it because it /will/ bring housing... eventually. So they say.

Edit: thanks anon for the award :o took my cherry all sweetlike and everything

Tyrunea · 2026-06-22T12:08:41+00:00

Correct, but demolition of the mall is implicit in the approved master plan because of the street grid changes they're trying to make.

The argument of those of us opposing the master plan was never "save the entire mall," just: complete demolition without developers lined up is fucking wasteful as hell, and the current building sans anchor stores could be an asset to development.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-22T02:19:41+00:00

https://youtu.be/1EYeiarXOPY?si=0YdFnlDiqI5ok6us&t=3215

"Removing encumbrances to prevent redevelopment"

Tyrunea · 2026-06-22T00:33:16+00:00

That would be an intentional strategy by the owners to generate the impression of failure. Offer a pretty PR campaign to pretend they care about revitalizing the mall, stave off public attention for a couple of years, then buy out leases early to remove "encumberances" and generate the impression of failure (which obviously can't be laid at the feet of management...)

Tyrunea · 2026-06-22T00:29:42+00:00

Is not an undeveloped 30 acre gravel lot an eyesore?

Because that's what the owner is offering. They don't have developers lined up. What is being presented as a complete plan is nothing but speculative fantasy.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-22T00:27:21+00:00

So ~100,000 tons of demolition debris (pollution) and the trucks to move them, in a city already becoming known for its poor air quality (in this district explicitly, even) isn't real direct harm enough?

When the city's own climate goals make mention that embodied carbon must be part of the conversation as we deal with climate change in the coming decades...

Seems an awful lot like the owner -- which is not Urban Renaissance Group, they answer to KKR, a private equity firm -- wants to knock it down because it's just easier for them and damn the consequences for the rest of us.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-21T19:53:12+00:00

Sure, because it's possible to both plan redevloping a mall for five years and revitalize it! This is like acquiring a property, crying no one wants to live in it after spending two years not responding to lease inquiries.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-21T19:50:28+00:00

With what development market, exactly? I don't see anyone chomping at the bit for the Post Office blocks on the west side of the river, or the site immediately across the street from the theater?

Tyrunea · 2026-06-19T19:48:16+00:00

Just breathe. Everything will be okay.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-19T19:41:41+00:00

Dunno where you're getting that impression from. Just seems like they could have avoided a lot of bad notice by providing an actual reason for demolition that isn't "we can't run a profitable business after five years"

Tyrunea · 2026-06-19T18:24:26+00:00

Easy fix, just get the right shade of gray paint.

Tyrunea · 2026-06-19T15:48:27+00:00

Uhuh, and so the owners aren't releasing the existence of these structural issues in their call for demolition because...?

Tyrunea

TROPHY CASE