The charms of the Pacific Northwest are many—from excellent food and wines to wild beaches and soaring mountains. The centers of the region’s two largest cities, Portland and Seattle, have lately undertaken major projects, all designed to play to each city’s strengths and facilitate smart urban development.
Portland Proper
In 2001, Portland unveiled the first modern streetcar, and completion nears on an extension project that will be of particular interest to incoming groups.
“In September 2012, a new extension will open on the east side of the river and will pass by the convention center, head south by the waterfront to OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), and loop back to town,” explains Marcus Hibdon, communications and public relations manager with Travel Portland. “People will be able to head out from the convention center, hit a great restaurant for lunch, and get back within an hour.”
Hibdon notes that the 2001 phase was as much about urban planning and progress as about solving transportation needs, and it succeeded in elevating the Pearl District to a popular destination neighborhood. “It was more about driving development than mass transit—about developing a community,” he explains, adding that retail, restaurants, and coffee shops are already in place and awaiting an influx of patrons on the streetcar.
Coffee is one of the many things Oregonians take very seriously, and the Oregon Convention Center recently announced that its on-property Starbucks would be replaced by Portland Roasting. This local purveyor, which won 2012 Roaster of the Year from Roast magazine, is devoted to premium coffee and sustainable practices. It even delivers materials via emission-free means—by bicycle or Nissan Leaf.
“What the convention center realized is that we’re in this amazing coffee destination and yet they were providing a nationally available brand,” says Hibdon.
The convention center also unveiled an outdoor space—roughly 30,000 square feet of greenspace wired for sound and designed to serve as an outdoor ballroom.
Seattle Scene
Greater Seattle, which is coming off a tourism high as fans of the Twilight books and films have been coming to the area in droves, is gearing up for a huge 2012. The largest King Tut exhibit ever on the West Coast will open in May. An exhibition devoted to Nirvana, whose frontman Kurt Cobain was an area native, is running at the Experience Music Project through April 2013. A light rail line has opened, linking the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to downtown, via a $2.50, 37-minute trip. The Washington State Convention Center now has an additional 71,000 square feet of space.
But the two cultural elements generating the most buzz in Seattle are the opening of a major new art exhibition and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Century 21 Exposition—also known as the Seattle World’s Fair.
Dale Chihuly—whose glass works are on display everywhere from the Clinton Library in Little Rock, AR, to The Palm in Dubai—is from Tacoma, and Seattle will soon be home to Chihuly Garden and Glass, an exhibition at the 74-acre Seattle Center campus, which will have a 4,500-square-foot Glass House featuring five large red and yellow chandeliers. The space will be available for private events for up to 500 guests. The exhibition will also include a gallery space and a 16,000-square-foot garden—both of which will feature some of Chihuly’s most important works—a bookstore, and a cafe.
“Chihuly is an iconic designer in Seattle and his installations are completely amazing,” says Jerri Lane, Visit Seattle’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “This provides such a beautiful centerpiece for the Seattle Center.”
The Seattle Center will also play a major role in the World’s Fair anniversary festivities, which are being called “The Next Fifty.” Activities, exhibits, and contests will explore what has been accomplished over the past 50 years, and what the 50 to come might bring. Focus areas will include global health, sustainable futures, and commerce and the innovation economy. While some components will be serious, others just might fulfill a childhood dream: The Space Needle, which was built for the World’s Fair, is running a contest, the winner of which will be sent on a suborbital space flight with Space Adventures. Since these trips run into the tens of millions of dollars, this is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Unless, of course, things change in the next 50 years.