The Prosper Portland Board of Commissioners has approved a purchase and sale agreement for a parcel of land in the Central Eastside. Commonly known as “Block B” of the Workshop Blocks, the SE Water Ave. property was purchased by Beam Construction & Management LLC and Colas Development Group LLC, along with an exclusivity term sheet for Blocks A and C.
Beam and Colas plan to build a 3,500 person capacity music venue on Block B, with Live Nation as the venue operator. Prosper Portland is selling Block B for fair market value of $2,410,000 and reserving up to $749,000 in Central Eastside district funds to cover environmental remediation expenses.
Prosper Portland, the city’s economic and urban development agency, purchased the three parcels, known as the Workshop Blocks, from the Oregon Department of Transportation in 2017 for $2,845,000. The goal in acquiring the parcels was to encourage redevelopment in alignment with Central Eastside priorities.
In April 2020, after a Request For Proposal (RFP) process, Prosper Portland approved a term sheet with Beam and Colas authorizing a 99-year ground lease and rights to develop on Blocks B and C during an exclusivity period.
Over the last four years there has been significant impact related to the pandemic, changing the demand for office space and the feasibility of financing related to it. Those changes in the market led Beam and Colas to look for new opportunities to develop the area, remaining in alignment with allowable uses of the industrial zoning of the property.
Beam and Colas then began discussions with Live Nation, an American multinational entertainment company. The proposed entertainment venue aligns with the RFP goals and includes no public subsidy.
Significant pushback has come from local groups about Live Nation’s business practices and potential damage to Portland’s independent music industry. Written and oral testimony was presented to Portland City Council. However, an appeal against the Live Nation venue was tentatively denied. A final City Council vote is expected in October.