Metro Expo Center Feasibility Analysis
Portland, OR · 2022
Client: Metro, Major Projects
Location: Portland, OR
Year: 2022
CP Role: Lead consultant
Practice Area: Real Estate + Feasibility
Team: Alex Joyce, Principal-in-Charge and Project Manager; Irene Kim, Engagement Strategy Lead; Paul Runge, Market Analysis; Ayano Healy, Outreach and Communications Lead
The Challenge
Metro wanted to redevelop the Expo Center site, but levy obligations, road constraints, active venue operations, and its commitment to wealth building for Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color made a clear solicitation hard to write.
Our Approach
We opened with a values workshop that acknowledged the site's history of harm to Portland's communities of color. With Shilo George of Łush Kumtux Tumtum Consulting we co-facilitated conversations with urban Indigenous residents, and we held culturally responsive discussions with Native American, African American, and Japanese American communities. The values they set became the evaluation criteria in the request for expressions of interest, which we drafted with Metro procurement and marketed to developers and community organizations.
Outcome
The solicitation drew five qualified development proposals from development and nonprofit teams.
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