Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland , Oregon , United States . It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found.
21-621: South Portland is a long, narrow neighborhood just south of Downtown Portland, Oregon , hemmed in between the Willamette River and the West Hills . It stretches from I-405 and the Marquam Bridge on the north, to SW Canby St. and the Sellwood Bridge in the south. The Willamette forms the eastern boundary, and SW Barbur Blvd. most of the western boundary. In addition to Downtown to
42-497: A mall. The center has 356,154 square feet (33,087.8 m ) of space and 66 stores. Pioneer Place I and II contain four levels, including a basement level. The top floor of Pioneer Place II houses a Regal Cinemas theater. Cascades , the food court, is located underground below Pioneer Tower / Zone C , which also connects to a parking garage. That parking garage, located to the south, also contains retail space, home to Tiffany & Co. The northern lower above-ground levels of
63-468: A plan to revitalize downtown Portland. Moses charted a highway loop around the city's central freeways, which would become Interstate 405 as it links with I-5 south of downtown. Additionally the creation of a downtown transit mall in 1977 , a new waterfront park in 1978 (later named after Governor Tom McCall ) in place of a freeway , the creation of the Pioneer Courthouse Square in 1984,
84-578: A portion of the nearby Lloyd District after 2001. However, in 2010, free rides became limited to MAX and streetcar service – no longer covering bus service – and the zone renamed the "Free Rail Zone", and in September 2012 the fareless zone was discontinued entirely, because of a $ 12 million shortfall in TriMet's annual budget. Several high-rise buildings are located in downtown Portland. The five tallest are: Pioneer Place Pioneer Place
105-508: Is an upscale, urban shopping mall in downtown Portland, Oregon . It consists of four blocks of retail, dining, parking, and an office tower named Pioneer Tower . The mall itself is spread out between four buildings, interconnected by skywalks or underground mall sections. The footprint of the entire complex consists of four full city blocks, bisected by SW Yamhill and Fourth, bounded north-south by SW Morrison and Taylor Streets and east-west by SW Third and Fifth Avenues. In 2014, Pioneer Place
126-679: Is the farthest east, while most of the high-rises end by I-405 to the west. Interstate 5 runs on the opposite bank of the river, crossing over on the Marquam Bridge. U.S. Route 26 connects downtown Portland to the Oregon Coast and the Cascade Range . Downtown is also served by several forms of public transportation. TriMet , the regional mass transit agency, operates MAX light rail on two alignments in downtown, one running east–west on Yamhill and Morrison streets and north–south on 1st Avenue,
147-581: The Pearl and Northwest Portland districts. The system currently has two routes, measuring 7.2 miles (11.6 km) end to end, and connects in South Waterfront with the Tram (aerial cableway) to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Starting in 1975 and continuing for almost four decades, all transit service in downtown was free , as downtown was entirely within TriMet's Fareless Square , which also covered
168-635: The Willamette to Interstate 405 and south from Burnside Street to just south of the Portland State University campus (also bounded by I-405), except for a part of northeastern portion north of SW Harvey Milk Street and east of SW 3rd Ave that belongs to the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. High-density business and residential districts near downtown include the Lloyd District , across
189-847: The block with Pioneer Tower housed Saks Fifth Avenue. Pioneer Place I faces the Fifth Avenue section of the Portland Transit Mall , served by several TriMet bus routes and MAX Light Rail . It is served by all five lines of the MAX system, with its Fifth Avenue side being across the street from the Pioneer Place/5th Avenue station (southbound service), and with the Pioneer Courthouse/6th Avenue station (northbound service) and "Pioneer Square" stations (eastbound and westbound service) being only one block away. Pioneer Place II
210-560: The city is attempting to reduce in order to promote higher density, create storefronts, and make downtown more vibrant. Some changes are being made slowly, such as the creation of the Smart Park garage system, and conversion of a surface-level parking lot into a park with underground parking at Park Block 5 between the Fox Tower and Park Avenue West Tower . In 2017, Human Access Project partnered with Portland Parks & Recreation to open
231-543: The city's first officially recognized public swimming beach, Poet's Beach . In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic , Downtown Portland faced an increase in homeless camps and a reduction in office workers due to remote work . During and after the Black Lives Matter protests, there was an increase in graffiti, property damage, and windows being boarded up. Portland is sometimes known as "Bridgetown", due to
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#1732844270360252-539: The early 1970s, parts of Portland's central city had been in decay for some time. New suburban shopping malls in the neighboring cities of Beaverton , Tigard , and Gresham competed with downtown for people and money. Unlike many downtown revitalization efforts around the United States at this time, Portland's plan did not call for widespread demolition and reconstruction. Robert Moses , the designer of New York City 's gridded freeways, expressways, and bridges, designed
273-530: The mall in 2010, with H&M taking over the portion that had been Saks men's store later that year. The remaining parts of the Saks footprint was demolished in 2012 to make way for a new Apple Store and a Yard House restaurant. In 2016, Pioneer Place started their renovations, and completed the renovation in 2018. In February 2017, shared workspaces provider WeWork signed a lease to take 30,000 square feet (2,800 m ) of space, one of their first leases in
294-538: The names of the two main mall buildings. Pioneer Place I, or The "Atrium Shops"/Zone A, opened in 1990 and was developed with assistance from the Portland Development Commission . Pioneer Place II, or The "Rotunda Shops"/Zone B, is located across Fourth Avenue to the east. Construction on Pioneer Place II began in 1998, and at the time was to add 150,000 square feet (14,000 m ) at a cost of around $ 60 million. Saks Fifth Avenue closed its store at
315-431: The north, other bordering neighborhoods are Southwest Hills , Homestead , Hillsdale , and South Burlingame to the west, and Hosford-Abernethy , Brooklyn , and Sellwood-Moreland across the river on the east. The neighborhood, formerly known as Corbett-Terwilliger-Lair Hill or CTLH , changed its name at a meeting of its neighborhood association on September 6, 2006, to be more concise and inclusive. South Portland
336-649: The number of bridges that cross its two rivers. There are nine bridges entering downtown and immediately adjacent areas. The bridges are (north to south): Outside the downtown area there are three other road bridges within Portland limits that cross the Willamette River : the St. Johns Bridge and Sauvie Island Bridge (to the north) and the Sellwood Bridge (to the south). Most streets in downtown Portland are one-way. Naito Parkway (two-way, formerly known as Front Avenue)
357-520: The opening of the Portland–Gresham light rail line in 1986, and the opening of Pioneer Place mall in 1990 successfully drew or retained businesses and lured customers. After 1990, downtown Portland dominated the city's development, with 500,000 square feet (46,000 m ) more development there than on the east side ( Lloyd District , Central Eastside Industrial District, and Lower Albina ). Downtown Portland has many surface parking lots , which
378-636: The other running north–south on 5th and 6th avenues. On the latter two streets, an extensive transit mall —known as the Portland Mall —limits private vehicles and provides connections between more than fifty bus lines, MAX light rail, and the Portland Streetcar . The southern part of downtown and the West End are also served by the Portland Streetcar system, operating from South Waterfront north into
399-856: The river from the northern part of downtown, and the South Waterfront area, just south of downtown in the South Portland neighborhood. Portland's downtown features narrow streets—64 feet (20 m) wide—and square, compact blocks 200 feet (61 m) on a side, to create more corner lots that were expected to be more valuable. The small blocks also made downtown Portland pleasant to walk through. The 264-foot (80 m) long combined blocks divide one mile (1.6 km) of road into exactly 20 separate blocks. By comparison, Seattle 's blocks are 240 by 320 feet (73 m × 98 m), and Manhattan 's east–west streets are divided into blocks that are from 600–800 feet (183–244 m) long. By
420-643: Was the name of a 19th-century community that overlapped the present day neighborhood. The neighborhood is a collection of very different areas. Parts of the Lair Hill and Corbett areas are regulated to protect the historic significance of South Portland Historic District. Bounded roughly by SW Arthur, Front, Grover, Hood, and Curry Streets and SW Barbur Boulevard, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 31, 1998. Downtown, Portland, Oregon The downtown neighborhood extends west from
441-491: Was the third-highest selling mall in the United States based on sales per square foot, sitting just behind Bal Harbour Shops and The Grove at Farmers Market . Pioneer Place I began construction in 1988 and opened in 1990. Buildings demolished to clear the site for the mall included the Corbett Building , an office building constructed in 1907. The development was built in two phases, the names of which are reflected in
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