Lloyd Center concert venue says construction will begin next month

The race to open a new concert venue in Portland reached a new stage Tuesday, when promoters announced they’ll break ground at the Lloyd Center mall in June.

Portland-based Monqui Presents and global live events company AEG Presents are teaming to bring their 68,000-square-foot venue — with capacity for 2,000 to 4,250 concertgoers — to a former Nordstrom on Northeast Multnomah Street, penciling in their opening for the start of 2027.

That’s slightly later than the latest estimated opening date from competitor Live Nation, which is working with Colas Development Group and Beam Development

to bring a 3,500-person concert venue to the Central Eastside sometime in 2026

Both aim to bring a mid-sized concert venue to a city with few options in between theater halls that can pack in hundreds and arena-show settings like Moda Center.

Project setbacks are normal and could flex either schedule like a rubber band, but Monqui Presents Founder Mike Quinn said in a news release that his development is speeding along.

“The light at the end of the Lloyd venue tunnel just got a lot brighter and closer,” Quinn said.

Project officials filed building permits last week with the city of Portland to demolish a skybridge that connects the mall to an adjacent office tower and to construct the two-story event venue. Backers noted that the site is under the city’s CX zoning, which allows for this type of mixed-use and commercial development without zoning changes or special use permits.

That was an apparent allusion to the trouble that Live Nation ran into last year, when its backers had to seek a conditional land-use decision because they are building in an industrial zone along Southeast Water Avenue between Salmon and Main streets.

The Live Nation team

won that decision

from the city, overcoming an appeal. But opponents have filed an action with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, the statewide tribunal, which has yet to issue a decision on the matter.

The AEG press release did not state how much the project would cost, and a spokesperson did not respond to an email when asked.

“Portland is such a phenomenal community,” Don Strasburg, Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest president with AEG, said in the release. “Our space fits perfectly into the fabric of the robust music scene to offer options for national, regional and local artists that do not exist now. Get ready, we are so excited.”

—

Jonathan Bach

covers housing and real estate. Reach him by email at

jbach@oregonian.com

or by phone at 503-221-4303.

Our journalism needs your support.

Subscribe today

.

Stories by

Jonathan Bach

Nonprofit that combats housing discrimination will leave some Oregon cities after losing federal grants
Outgoing Portland school board member says district should buy Big Pink

Nickel-sized hail anticipated with thunderstorms Wednesday
Prosper Portland avoids budget cut but faces scrutiny over independence
Portland’s heated budget battle turns into economic development power play
Old Town Portland building sold to a longtime restaurant tenant