24-03-2025
Redesign of Portland's Congress Square Park may resume this summer
Mar. 24—"Dearest Portland," the post read. "It's gonna be a weird year."
Friends of Congress Square Park announced via Instagram on Wednesday morning that construction on a yearslong renovation to the downtown park is likely to resume this summer. As a result, the group is planning to scale back its programming to accommodate the work.
But city spokesperson Jessica Grondin wrote in an email last week that it's too soon to say when construction will restart.
The city cut ties with the contractor that completed the first portion of the project in 2023, so it needs to hire a new company to complete the work. Grondin said the city put out a request for bids for the job Friday. She said work may start up again this summer, as the organization said on Instagram, but that there's no definitive start date.
The $7.2 million redesign has been in the works for years and was planned to unfold in two phases. It was originally slated to be completed in 2024 but has been plagued by delays.
The first phase, budgeted at $2.6 million, included improvements to traffic flow and sidewalks at the intersection of High and Congress streets, work that was originally expected to be largely completed by fall 2022, with final paving and landscaping to occur the next spring. While the original contractor, Gordon Contracting, completed a portion of that work, there are still significant updates to the intersection to be done, according to the bid published by the city Friday.
Phase two calls for upgrades to Congress Square Park itself, including the installation of new artwork and improvements to the plaza outside the Portland Museum of Art.
The first phase took far longer than expected because of the discovery of an electrical vault under the street and resulted in partial closures of High and Free streets for months, frustrating nearby businesses and residents. Meanwhile, the city and the contractor were at odds over who was responsible for the delays and how to respond to them, and the two eventually ended their agreement.
CJ Opperthauser, executive director of Friends of Congress Square Park, said that while the group hopes to put on as much of its usual programming as possible, some events likely will be paused or relocated. He said the group may move some events to Longfellow Square or Monument Square if construction makes hosting at the park impossible.
"At the end of the day, we won't have too many fewer events than in a normal season," he said.
Opperthauser said he is excited about the project and believes it will make the area more pedestrian-friendly and make it easier to host events. The plans also call for improvements to accessibility for people with disabilities and for planting more trees in the park.
He joked that he's thinking of making a T-shirt that reads "The Jackhammer tour," referring to the roving events schedule, if construction is in full swing this summer.
"That's the spirit we're trying to have," he said.
Opperthauser added, that although the project is spearheaded by the city, his organization has been involved since the beginning and is glad to be included.
"We're really like cheerleaders for the project," he said.
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