Out of its misery
Lloyd Center is formally biting the dust.
KKR Real Estate Finance Trust said it plans to take ownership of the 1.2 million square foot mall before the end of the year. The company says payments on its $110 million debt has been overdue since October 2020.
“Upon taking title, which is targeted for the fourth quarter, we’ll begin to plan for a comprehensive redevelopment of the site, which we expect will include multiple uses including residential and creative offices,” said Patrick Mattson, the president and chief operating officer of the company.
Good luck with that, dudes. Meanwhile, we bid farewell to what was once something special.
That is sad that the mall couldn’t adapt to current times. Why not add more stores and restaurants that are locally owned and create an indoor “Saturday Market” feel? I think the place went downhill once the Holladay Marketplace that was in the old Tradewell space (yes, I’m real old school Portland) closed in the early 90’s. That could had been a blueprint for what the Lloyd Center ‘should’ had become.
ReplyDeleteThrough all of the constant remodeling the owners removed any of the charm of the original mall and it became something that didn’t fit in with what current Portland wanted or needed. To me the mall has been shut for years as I found no charm left, but I still have all of my memories of the place from it’s heyday. No tears from me.
Hard to run a mall when shoplifting is higher than sales and Holladay park was regularly closed due to a shooting or stabbing.
ReplyDeleteWell, when my family came to PDX in 1958, my father was temporarily placed as the construction inspector for the shopping center's architectural firm, S.O.M. At the time, it was being touted as the latest innovation in shopping and the biggest of its kind. Dad wasn't particularly impressed and didn't spend much time on that project after the construction of the Memorial Coliseum broke ground, as that was the primary project for which he was relocated to PDX.
ReplyDeleteEverything put together sooner or later falls apart. I must admit, I won't miss Lloyd Center; I rarely went there.
I was also around when a majority of the huge old trees in Holladay Park came down during the Columbus Day Storm. That was sad.
You chose an excellent photo of the fountain built for the new and improved enclosed Lloyd Center literally dripping with irony perhaps they can leave that intact it should fit in very well with a huge condo development (with ground floor retail) or as a warning like Ozymandias, "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
ReplyDelete