Portland Expo Development Opportunity Study

Portland, OR | 2021

The Portland Expo Center is a 53-acre venue and exhibition campus owned and operated by Metro regional government. Originally a livestock exhibition center in the 1930s, the site was converted into a forced detention center for Japanese Americans during World War II. Metro wanted to understand how the redevelopment of the site could honor and improve the lives of those impacted by this shameful history.

Cascadia Partners was hired to conduct culturally-specific engagement to establish a set of Guiding Principles for redevelopment, and then evaluate a wide range of potential future uses of the site using those Principles. Unique approaches to advanced manufacturing, film and media production, and an enhanced events venue for music and sports were explored.

Cascadia Partners led and designed an engagement strategy to understand and prioritize the reuse outcomes from the perspective of historically impacted communities. Engagement included a workshop exercise with a diverse stakeholder representing the Japanese American, African American, and Native American communities, as well as Expo’s current users and clients.

Cascadia Partners then led an exploratory development offering process to identify and vet specific development partners and concepts for the site. We conducted an extensive marketing effort and secured 5 qualified development proposals from development and nonprofit teams. Cascadia is currently working with Metro on a detailed assessment of a business plan for a sports-oriented venue.