Portland’s long-brewing plan to turn the area surrounding the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry into a bustling neighborhood is coming into focus.
At a Portland City Council meeting Wednesday, commissioners unanimously advanced an agreement that solidifies the path forward in the nearly decade-old plan to bring more housing, people and activity to the south end of Portland’s Central Eastside. They agreed to spend more than $15 million in public dollars to kick off the plan.
Plans for the OMSI District Master Plan are shown, in this rendering, supplied in February 2023. The design for the proposed district will add up to three million square feet of new mixed-use buildings, up to 1,200 units of new housing, with at least 20% designated for low-income families, and collaborations with Tribal governments and Indigenous communities to restore riverfront areas, programming and public green space.
Courtesy of Gard Communications
“This is a significant day for Portland,” said Commissioner Mingus Mapps. “The legislation before us today is about more than infrastructure. It’s about transforming the OMSI district into a vibrant hub for education, innovation and community life.”
The plan, funded by a combination of private and public funds, is expected to cost around $90 million. Construction is expected to begin by early 2026.
The plan includes 24-acres public and privately-owned property surrounding OMSI in the Central Eastside. It promises a new waterfront park with science programming and partnerships with Indigenous communities, habitat restoration, outdoor plazas and up to 1,200 new housing units. At least a third of these units will be affordable to lower-income tenants.
The plan was first put into motion by OMSI in 2017, who proposed redeveloping the area around the museum as part of the city’s 20-year land use plan for the city’s urban core. The idea was to turn the industrial district into an “innovation district” with commercial and residential buildings and new outdoor public spaces, all centered around OMSI.
The city incorporated this proposal into its new land use plan in 2020, sending both OMSI and Prosper Portland – the city’s development bureau – into planning mode. In the years since, both parties have floated ideas for the new district. But the exact details of the plan have remained relatively hazy – until now.
The plan, or “term sheet,” agreed on by council, breaks the project into three phases.
The first includes building a new street, which planners are calling “new” Southeast Water Avenue, that will focus on expediting traffic – ranging from heavier freight from nearby industrial businesses to bicycle traffic. This will be built alongside the current Southeast Water Avenue, which will still be an active street. The city will pitch in $11 million from area tax-increment finance revenue and is seeking $6 million in state grants to fund the street project. This construction is anticipated to wrap by June 2027. During this phase, which the city says may last up to a decade, OMSI will also begin developing new housing in the district with private money.
Plans for the area were first put into motion by OMSI in 2017, who proposed redeveloping the area around the museum into an “innovation district” with commercial and residential buildings and new outdoor public spaces, all centered around OMSI.
Courtesy of Gard Communications
Phase two brings in the Portland House Bureau to build more affordable housing. In total, the plan aims to ensure that at least 300 of its 1,200 planned residential units are affordable to people making below 80% of the region’s median income, which is $94,000 annually for a family of four. The parties will also begin construction on a new waterfront park, and start planning for educational programming and signage for that area. OMSI will partner with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission to design this new park.
“It’ll be centered in Indigenous culture and offer free learning opportunities related to ecological and cultural knowledge,” said Aja DeCoteau, the executive director of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “This includes native plants, invasive species, river health and culture, placemaking opportunities that foster a sense of place for people such as demonstration of traditional native fishing practices.
The third phase will focus on construction and tying up loose ends – like adding more affordable housing, infrastructure, parking or other private investments in the region.
In all, OMSI estimates the project will create 11,000 jobs – both temporary construction positions and long-term jobs at anticipated new businesses. OMSI Director Erin Graham said analysts have also projected the project generating more than $1 billion in private investment over the next two decades.
“It is important because it helps to guarantee the growth and sustainability of our city and really important because it also helps to sustain OMSI and the critical mission-based work that we do,” she said.
With the council vote, the city pledged nearly $16 million in public dollars to fund the first phase of the project, including an additional $500,000 from the Portland Bureau of Transportation and $4 million from Portland Parks and Recreation.
The project has tapped into other public dollars. Metro regional government has already given $7 million to help establish the new waterfront park, and $750,000 to support Indigenous leaders tasked with advising OMSI on waterfront development. The state has also forked over $11 million to help with the street redesign.
The parties need to identify more financing before any work begins. With the agreement, both OMSI and the city committed to pursue new funding streams, like federal or state grants.
If they can land more funds, construction could start in early 2026. As Mayor Ted Wheeler pointed out, the total project will take more than a decade to fully fund and complete.
“But I think you’ll find that this city council and the next and the one after that…and it sounds like two or three after that…will continue to be supportive of this vision,” he said.
