Will Logic Prevail at Keller Auditorium?

 

Proposed expanded western facade at Keller Auditorium (Halprin Conservancy)

A firm request by a Portland City Council committee ultimately could become an insurmountable hurdle for a new 3,000 seat public auditorium proposed to be built at Portland State University.

 While the City Life Committee voted 4 to 1 this month in favor of the PSU plan, it also demanded detailed financial plans about how to pay for the $449 million project before moving ahead with the proposal to replace the city’s Keller Auditorium.  Given the city current budget deficits and cuts to essential services, the financial planning looms as a big problem for the PSU project.  PSU seemingly compounded the problem by asking for a $44 million down payment this year from a city budget that has made no provision for it.

 The troubling financial picture provides wind in the sails of the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, a non-profit organization that advocates urging a full renovation of the Keller Auditorium – at a smaller cost – instead.

 Given the city’s budget troubles, “There has been no decision made on the (PSU) project,” said Scott Andrews, president of the non-profit conservancy that seeks protection for the four Halprin-designed public fountains, including the renowned Keller Fountain that faces the Keller Auditorium.  Although the City Life committee’s decision did not kill the PSU plan, “We were quite pleased with the result,” Andrews said.

Thanks to a 2018 design competition, the Halprin Conservancy has developed an extensive renovation plan that would expand the Keller, bring it to full compliance with earthquake building codes and add amenities for audiences and back-of-the-house functions.  Cost estimates for Halprin proposal range from $267 million to $286 million, depending whether the work is done all at once in in phases over three years.  Either option would be a substantial savings over the $449 million PSU plan.

 Th Halprin plan would add 18,000 square feet to the building, including the dramatic curving new western façade that would be composed of a glass curtainwall extending over a portion of SW Third Avenue.  Third Avenue would become a pedestrian mall between the front of the auditorium and the iconic Keller Fountain, a 1970 urban renewal jewel that is considered one of America’s greatest fountains of the 20^th Century.

 “There’s really no substitute for location,” said Tim Eddy, a Portland architect whose firm, Hennebery Eddy Architects Inc., would oversee the Halprin proposal if it comes to pass.   The fountain and new public plaza would provide a setting that Eddy called “priceless,” and “couldn’t be replicated at any location.”  Further, Eddy said the current Keller location provides 2,475 nearby parking spaces, public access by MAX trains and TriMet buses, and 800 nearby hotel rooms, amenities that surpass the proposed PSU location at SW Fourth Avenue and Lincoln Street.

Looking ahead, it is conceivable to speculate that further financial analyses will lead a majority of the City Council to back off from the PSU plan.  If the city continues to suffer more budget problems ahead, the Halprin renovation plan would become increasingly attractive -- even though it makes more sense in the first place.

 ----Fred Leeson

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