A real estate company plans to repossess Northeast Portland’s Lloyd Center, a move that could signal the end of the once cutting-edge shopping mall.
Patrick Mattson, the president of the KKR Real Estate and Finance Trust, announced the repossession last week during a call with investors, according to Bloomberg Law. The Texas-based commercial real estate firm EB Arrow owns the mall and owes more than $110 million to lenders. Much of that debt was used to pay for renovations at the shopping center.
The Lloyd Center shopping mall was originally open air and considered the future of shopping. Owners eventually enclosed the Lloyd Center and added a food court in the 1990s. Despite recent upgrades, the mall has continued losing businesses and shoppers.
Robert Gaskin / Flickr
Despite those recent upgrades, the mall has continued to lose businesses and shoppers. It’s been a slow and steady decline for a shopping center that was considered futuristic when it opened in 1960. Macy’s, the last department store at the Lloyd Center, closed a year ago.
The mall was originally open air and considered the future of shopping. More than 5,000 people attended its opening ceremony, and its original owners claimed it was, at the time, the largest shopping center in the world. Owners eventually enclosed the Lloyd Center and added a food court in the 1990s.
The mall location, which spans 23 acres, is prime real estate in inner Northeast Portland given its proximity to mass transit lines, the Oregon Convention Center and Interstate 5. KKR plans to redevelop the mall property into a mix of residential and office space. The mall property has also been suggested as a potential site for a Major League Baseball stadium, though talks over bringing a team to Portland have cooled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the owner of the Lloyd Center. The property is owned by EB Arrow.