Portland’s Memorial Coliseum has a bumpy past (if you count numerous attempts to rip the building down). And now Portland officials want it to have a shiny new future. But information on that exact plan remains murky, at best.
While the eventual use of the structure could still flip or flop a few different directions, acting on behalf of the city, the Portland Development Commission has issued a Request for Proposals for architectural and engineering services to renovate the 50-year-old structure located on the Willamette River east of the main downtown core.
Originally opened in 1960, the coliseum served as the first home for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers (they moved into the adjacent Rose Garden Arena in 1995). The coliseum still hosts minor-league hockey’s Portland WinterHawks and a smattering of other events throughout the year. Having grown up in Portland, but without living there since the 1990s, I remember both hockey and basketball games in the coliseum and the Rose Garden, often marveling at the massive glass windows of the coliseum (hey, I was only a kid, remember).