DMC Trips: the Portland Experience

Whew! What a whirlwind tour of the city of Portland, Oregon. With “day one” under Destination Medical Center’s belt, the consensus is that Portland has had amazing success developing its downtown districts, and they are still growing. The agenda was jam-packed with speakers, roundtable discussions along with tours, tours, and more tours.

DMC officials met with a variety of different groups from Portland that shared some wise knowledge, along with lessons learned.

  • If your community members want to be down town, then others will want to be there too – Patrick Quinton, Executive Director, Portland Development Commission
  • Building without parking is the biggest urban design challenge – Geraldene Moyle, Senior Project Manager, Portland Development Commission
  • Activating the first two floors of buildings is vital – Adelle Nofield, Original President, Pearl District Business Association
  • People come for the buildings, but they stay for the place – Dennis Allen, Director, Planning & Development Zidell Yards

Below are images of just of the few of the sites that the DMC team learned about and enjoyed during this site visit.

Next stop . . . Seattle!