Oregon shopping center could be nearing demolition

A more than 60-year old shopping center in Portland, Oregon, with about 1.2 million square of space under roof reportedly is poised to be demolished as part of a proposed 29-acre redevelopment plan.

Media outlets in Portland say Design Committee hearings in the city have been held to allow owners of Lloyd Center in Portland to present their plan to demolish the retail center and redevelop it into a mixed use residential and commercial neighborhood. If that plan is approved, Lloyd Center would join a lengthy roster of shopping centers dismantled in the 2020s.

Earlier this decade, Lloyd Center property owner the Urban Renaissance Group (URG) unveiled what it called a conceptual master plan that envisions “positioning the 29.3-acre Lloyd Center site as a diverse, connected neighborhood with housing, retail, restaurants, entertainment venues, workspace and large open community spaces.”

A post on the Harvard Graduate School of Design website in 2023 indicated Lloyd Center in the 1960s contained more than 100 stores “and was considered the largest open-air mall in the country.”

The same essay described Lloyd Center as having “struggled in recent years,” adding, “The mall lost four of its five anchor tenants [and] the pandemic has accelerated its decline, dropping occupancy to approximately 40 percent. Currently, the Lloyd Center represents one of the largest land assemblage opportunities in the broader Portland central business district.”

Regional television station and news websites such as Hoodline.com refers to Lloyd Center as having a “signature ice rink.” However, media outlets also quote Tom Kilbane of URG as saying, “When the mall closes, the ice rink will also close.”

URG and allied companies have created what they call a conceptual site plan, and have been seeking permits and other approvals to move their project forward based on that plan.

Hoodline says a transportation analysis attached to such project applications estimate when the 29 acres are redeveloped the land parcel could host about 1.1 million square feet of office space, more than 450,000 square feet of retail space and as many as 5,000 residential. “Redevelopment would be phased so that new streets and infrastructure come online as individual parcels move into design review, rather than all at once,” says the website.

Before any such redevelopment some demolition will occur, with URG’s Kilbane quoted in one media outlet as saying, “We're going to knock stuff down.”

The OregonLive website says the developers have told the city of Portland Lloyd Center mall will close sometime this year.