A Live Nation music venue is one step closer to landing in Portland. That’s after the board of commissioners for Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development agency, approved a plan Wednesday to sell a vacant city lot in the Central Eastside to developers planning to lease to Live Nation.

Several board members said the economic benefit this venue could bring to Portland outweighs the risks that may come with inviting the world’s largest entertainment company into the city’s indie music ecosystem.

“I struggle with this because I think it is weighing the interests of both organizations that seek to develop and improve neighborhoods while also posing …a risk to the music community,” said Prosper Commissioner Marcelino Alvarez. “I hope that we don’t come to regret this decision.”

The vote approved plans for Portland-based Beam Development and Colas Construction to jointly purchase the vacant lot for $2.41 million, just under an acre in size, in Portland’s Central Eastside. It also laid out an agreement for the two developers to eventually purchase two neighboring lots, also owned by the city. The end goal is to convert this swath of land into a 59,000 square foot concert venue that can hold up to 3,500 people. While not noted in the agreement, developers say this venue will eventually be leased and operated by Live Nation.

To the many people who attended the board meeting to oppose the plan, this partnership would be a poison pill to Portland.

“With Live Nation in our city, small venues will struggle to compete and there will be fewer opportunities for the most vulnerable artists who already struggle to get a foot in the door,” said Portland artist Renée Muzquiz. She also works for Music Portland, a nonprofit that lobbies on behalf of local musicians, venues and other businesses connected to the music industry.

Live Nation owns more than 300 venues worldwide and manages more than 500 artists. It also owns Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticketing company, a move that’s attracted legal scrutiny. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general from 40 states (including Oregon) sued Live Nation, accusing the company of buying out competition in order to monopolize the concert industry. The suit argues that LiveNation has stifled local music venues across the country, forcing fans to pay more to see concerts and giving artists fewer opportunities to perform.

Critics fear that Live Nation’s arrival could have a chilling effect on the thriving, and often scrappy, indie music ecosystem that Portland’s long been known for. Portland is the only major US city without a venue owned or operated by Live Nation.

Portland earned its international recognition as a home for the arts with its independent culture and famous food carts,” said Nathan Carson, who owns local artist booking agency Nanotear. “Let’s preserve our uniqueness and not invite a corporate monopoly like Live Nation and Ticketmaster to spread its cancer here.”

Candidates for Portland City Council also voiced their opposition in a joint letter to the board. In the letter, the 10 candidates called Live Nation “bad actors.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, 16 members of the public testified against the sale. Two supported it.

Supporters say Portland’s music industry is suffering without a venue of this size. Most Portland concert venues are considered small, with places like the Crystal Ballroom and Roseland Theater limiting capacity under 2,000. The Moda Center’s capacity of 20,500, on the other hand, is too large for some artists to book.

And, while the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and Keller Auditorium can hold nearly 3,000 people each, their fixed seating doesn’t allow for the kind of on-your-feet performances Live Nation hopes to attract.

“It’s kind of that ‘missing middle’ in terms of the Portland venue market,” said Prosper Portland’s Amy Nagy in her presentation before the board.

Some opponents of the plan argue that this vacuum in mid-sized venues might be addressed without Live Nation. Local music promoter Monqui Presents and global company Anschutz Entertainment Group announced plans this summer to build a 4,250-seat music venue in the Lloyd Center mall, with a time frame similar to Live Nation’s.

Supporters welcome both projects. Jay Clark, the director of government affairs at the Portland Metro Chamber, said the deal was “bigger than just one” venue – and more a way to show outside entertainment investors that Portland is interested in partnering with them.

Prosper Board Commissioner Michi Slick said the existence of the proposal alone was worth celebrating.

“When I heard about these plans I was just flabbergasted, because we have had so little development occur in the last few years in Portland,” Slick said. “And we have struggled in particular with commercial development.”

The city has owned the three vacant lots along Southeast Water Avenue since 2017, when it purchased the land from the Oregon Department of Transportation for $2.8 million to “encourage redevelopment” in the city’s Central Eastside. The following year, Prosper Portland asked developers to submit proposals on how to use the empty lots. Beam Development won, with a plan to build mixed office and industrial buildings. The city would still own the property under this agreement, and only lease the land to Beam.

That plan has changed in the years since. As businesses ditched their offices during the COVID pandemic, Beam decided Portland didn’t need more office buildings. In 2022, the company announced a new plan to build a large music venue on the property instead. And it had a tenant: Live Nation. And now, instead of leasing the property, Beam and partner Colas Construction are asking to purchase the city’s land at market rate.

The lease includes some caveats that Beam and Colas say will address some of the community’s concerns with Live Nation. That includes Live Nation agreeing to make the venue available at least five times a year to community groups and nonprofits, free of charge. They must also agree to allow outside music promoters book the venue for at least 20 concerts per year (In total, they estimate the venue holding around 125 concerts annually).

“We’re not trying to harm the independent music industry, we’re trying to set an example,” said Andrew Colas, CEO of Colas Construction. “We’re making Live Nation do things they haven’t done in other cities, and I really truly hope that this ends up being a model that they can use in other cities.”

Prosper Portland is happy to take their money. Last year saw the last of a major urban development funding stream, when the city’s tax increment financing district in the Central Eastside expired. In the agreement approved Wednesday, Prosper pledges to use some of the earnings from the sale to create small business grants and to “support local musically focused events.”

According to city staff, Portland could also collect over $200,000 in yearly property taxes from the new development.

Four Prosper Portland commissioners voted in favor of the sale. Commission Chair Gustavo Cruz Jr. abstained from voting, due to a conflict of interest related to his work as a business lawyer.

While unanimous, commissioners express clear concern about the developers’ ability to hold Live Nation accountable for the promises outlined in their lease.

“One of my challenges with the City of Portland is that we agree to wonderful things and then we don’t have accountability to follow through on them,” said Commissioner Felisa Hagins. “And it creates pretty damaging outcomes for our community.”

Hagins told Colas and Jonathan Maslin, a principal developer at Beam Development, that, if they did not ensure Live Nation followed through on their agreements, it could impact the city’s relationship with the companies in the future.

“We’re committed to incorporating these provisions in the lease,” Maslin said.

While the sale has been approved, the deal is far from final.

Music Portland is seeking to appeal the development. Portland City Council will hold a hearing on the land use appeal Thursday. It’s not immediately clear what would happen if the council sides with Music Portland, aside from delaying construction. If commissioners dismiss the appeal, the group may advance the challenge to the state land use appeals board. Either way, it could draw out the plan’s timeline.

Currently, the developers aim to finish construction in time to open the venue in early 2027.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/18/portland-commission-approves-controversial-plan-sell-city-property-live-nation-venue-developers/