Through Hunden Partners’ ongoing collaboration with Metro, Metro Council and the Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission anticipate a January vote to affirm a new plan to redevelop the Portland Expo Center into a dynamic sports, tourism, and cultural engagement hub. Earlier this year, Hunden Partners completed a comprehensive assessment of the local and regional sports market and Expo’s current business model, which resulted in a comprehensive vision for Expo’s future.
The approximately $300-million proposed redevelopment program includes:
• A commitment to honor Expo’s profound history with a community center and memorialization and representation exhibited throughout the buildings and site to honor Portland’s Japanese American, Black, and Indigenous communities;
• State-of-the-art twin ice sheet facility to support hockey, figure skating, and other ice sports;
• An indoor court facility designed to accommodate flat-floor sporting events, with space for nine basketball and 18 volleyball courts;
• An athletic and entertainment facility that houses sport-support spaces, a family entertainment center, and food and beverage offerings.
Hunden’s work demonstrates the transformative potential of this project, with a projected 1.5 million annual visitors—up from the current 300,000 at Expo’s current facilities—and the addition of 64 new sports tournaments and more than 50,000 new hotel room nights annually to the Portland region. Follow-on phases of development on the site may include a hotel and other commercial uses. This redevelopment would elevate Portland’s presence in the sports tourism sector and serve as a space for connection, reflection, and community enrichment.
Portland Business Journal December 10, 2024