Portland to purchase Morrison bridgehead parking lot for $8 million

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – During its June 14 meeting, the Portland City Council unanimously approved the purchase of an existing 300-space parking lot located underneath the west end of Morrison Bridge Between Harvey Milk and Morrison Streets along Naito Parkway for $8 million.

The new city property will be purchased by Portland Parks & Recreation as an addition to Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Commissioner Dan Ryan introduced the ordinance during Wednesday’s meeting, calling the purchase a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” The city currently plans to use the space “as is” without any major developments. However, in addition to serving as a public parking lot, Ryan said that the property may also be used as an additional event space.

“This property is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to add a large open area to waterfront Park,” Ryan said. “With the acquisition of the Morrison bridgehead, large trucks and equipment won’t take up as much valuable Waterfront Park lawn space during Downtown events. This acquisition also provides us with expanded space on the waterfront to host new and more events and activities.”

PP&R Property Business Development Manager Dylan Paul said that the property is an ideal addition for increasing event capacity and visitor parking at Waterfront Park. While the space will add more city-owned parking spaces to the Portland Waterfront, the location has already existed as a privately-owned public parking lot managed by the company Morrison Bridgehead LLC.

“Current Downtown park properties host or support over 450 annual events and issue over 6,000 recreational permits each year citywide,” Paul said. “With this property acquisition and several other efforts, we are looking to bring that number much higher in the coming years.”

Paul said that the paved parking lot will also help increase Waterfront Park’s event space during the winter and fall months when lawn conditions are soggy and less manageable.

“This new hardscape site represents the opportunity for the city to host year-round events at Waterfront Park,” Paul said. “These new winter [events] at this site could include markets, fairs, tented events and more when the grass of waterfront parks is not suitable for more intensive uses.”

The purchase of the property was approved as an emergency ordinance, which allowed the council to buy the property without additional community input. Because the property was valued at roughly $8.6 million by the Multnomah County assessor’s office, Paul said the purchase was rushed forward to lock in the best price for the city. With approval from the city council, the city will move forward with purchasing the property with funds from PP&R’s System Development Charges.

“Historically, when the city does property negotiations and purchase time is of the essence, oftentimes we’re putting in competitive offers and have several time restrictions,” Paul said. “Typically, we don’t like to wait when trying to close escrow, it makes us less competitive when trying to seek new properties to add to our portfolio.”