21-03-2025
Portion of Tom McCall Waterfront Park will be revamped following design competition
PORTLAND, Ore. () — A portion of Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park could get a major makeover in the coming years.
Leaders of the Oregon Metro, the regional agency serving Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, has allocated a $750,000 Planning and Development Grant to Portland Parks & Recreation. The award will go toward revitalizing the waterfront's bowl section, located 'between RiverPlace and the Marina, south of the Hawthorne Bridge on the west side of the Willamette River.'
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City officials are launching a competition that asks consultants from near and far to develop a design for the new-and-improved park, which is expected to host more outdoor entertainment and cultural events.
The grant backing the competition, which is slated to span across two and a half years, comes from Metro's construction excise tax. The tax is assessed at 0.12% of the total value of improvements for different building permits in the tri-county area.
According to the parks bureau, the grant was also a joint effort between the City of Portland and its partners at the Portland Waterfront Pavilion and the Human Access Project — with both organizations aiming to increase access and programming at the waterfront.
'We feel the public is ready for a conversation around revitalizing the Tom McCall Bowl from an underutilized space to a world-class amphitheater and 'toes in the water' river park,' Human Access Project Founder and Executive Director Willie Levenson said in a . 'The objective is to create an iconic Portland park that is both a transcendent event space and green space that leverages its connection to the river — Portland's blue space.'
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The redevelopment competition will seek proposals that are ADA accessible, integrate public access to the water with a new design of a Willamette River beach and shoreline, and are environmentally sustainable.
Additionally, the design should feature an outdoor stage and connect the river to Portland's downtown core.
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