Backers of the as-yet-unnamed concert hall, which will replace a former Nordstrom location, hope to compete with a Live Nation project planned for the Central Eastside.
A mid-sized concert venue expected to fill a gap in Portland’s entertainment scene is now planned to break ground next month in the Lloyd Center.
But it’s not the Live Nation project favored by city officials with a prime parcel of land on the Central Eastside that drew widespread outcry from the city’s music community.
A two-story, 68,000-square-foot venue jointly proposed by Portland-based Monqui Presents and global live entertainment company AEG Presents will begin construction in June on the site of a former Nordstrom store. Backers expect the 2,000-4,500-capacity venue to begin operations in 2027.
“The light at the end of the Lloyd venue tunnel just got a lot brighter and closer,” Monqui founder Mike Quinn writes in a statement.
AEG competitor Live Nation — the largest live events company in the world — and local partners Colas Development Group and Beam Development are planning a 3,500-person venue in the “ODOT Blocks.” The site off Interstate 84 was originally intended as the connection point for the proposed Mount Hood Freeway. The Live Nation project is scheduled to conclude in 2026.
The city’s vibrant music scene features numerous small stages and independent halls, and major venues like the Moda Center and the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall can accommodate among the nation’s largest touring acts. But developers say a great need exists for an entertainment venue in the range of 2,000 to 5,000 people with room to stand and to sit.
The Monqui Presents venue received far less public outcry than the Live Nation project, which was opposed last summer by dozens of musicians at meetings of the Portland City Council. The Monqui project has also enjoyed a smoother journey through the public planning process. The Live Nation team needed to secure a conditional land-use permit to build their venue on a parcel zoned industrial. Opponents have appealed the city’s decision to issue the permit to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.
In contrast, the Monqui Presents site is located in a zone that allows mixed-use and commercial development, a fact noted in the group’s release touting the impending construction start.
The Monqui Presents project team includes Works Progress Architecture, which designed the Hotel Grand Stark in the Buckman neighborhood and a planned midsize music venue at the MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana, Calif. Monqui Presents backers filed paperwork with the city last week to demolish a skybridge that connects the mall on Northeast Multnomah Street with a nearby office tower, the Oregonian reported.
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