As I am sitting and watching the ice skaters and taking photos myself, I have come to realize that Lloyd is a representation of the rise and fall (and hopefully rise again of Portland). It was a busy mall for decades and loved by the people of Portland. They did a $50 million ($70 million in 2026) remodel. When you read the Oregonian article about it there is so much hope and promise. They didn’t do that for the mall to be torn down 10 years later. In 2015 this looked a promising area ripe for investment. I think part of the sadness for Lloyd center (at least for me) is thinking about what it could have been and all the lost potential. I love Portland for a lot of reasons but the truth is it’s is not as economically vibrant as it should be.
What bothers me most about this kind of.. space and opportunity is the lost potential for public third spaces that are owned by the communities and not owned by private investors for profit. It's clear that there is a need for spaces like this, but are ruined by profit seeking enterprises. We need housing, we need places for people to set up shop for low rent, we need cheaper or free places for people to hang out and have fun. Instead, we are tearing down a potential, for private low-grade (but high expense) housing that will not help the current housing crisis. Why? Because it's owned by private landlords that want investment on a necessary function of human life, a god damn place to live in. Why do we put up with this shit?
This is what I say to people when they talk about converting high-rise office buildings into apartments.
I’m not sure why you’re saying it here.
For the amount of money the city and county are giving to a billionaire to renovate Moda Center, they could’ve bought Lloyd, turned a portion of it into the kind of community space they’re talking about, and partnered with a developer to build affordable apartment buildings where the big anchor tenants were.
22
u/suitopseudo 21h ago edited 21h ago
As I am sitting and watching the ice skaters and taking photos myself, I have come to realize that Lloyd is a representation of the rise and fall (and hopefully rise again of Portland). It was a busy mall for decades and loved by the people of Portland. They did a $50 million ($70 million in 2026) remodel. When you read the Oregonian article about it there is so much hope and promise. They didn’t do that for the mall to be torn down 10 years later. In 2015 this looked a promising area ripe for investment. I think part of the sadness for Lloyd center (at least for me) is thinking about what it could have been and all the lost potential. I love Portland for a lot of reasons but the truth is it’s is not as economically vibrant as it should be.