One of Portland’s most iconic shopping malls and community gathering spaces will close to the public on Aug. 8.

It marks the end of an era for the Lloyd Center, a once-bustling shopping center that has, in recent years, become a haven for community groups and local businesses. The mall and historic indoor ice rink have called Northeast Portland home since the 1960s.

The current owner, Portland-based commercial real estate agency Urban Renaissance Group, plans to demolish the Lloyd Center to make way for housing, parks and businesses.

“This is a necessary step toward delivering a new future for this site and for Portland,” Tom Kilbane, URG’s managing director, said in a statement. “We recognize the history of Lloyd Center and appreciate the tenants who’ve operated here over the last few years. At the same time, the reality is the mall is no longer viable in its current form.”

Cities across the country are grappling with how to either revive once-thriving malls or transition these large spaces to other uses. Big-name stores were already closing at the Lloyd Center when COVID-19 hit in 2020. As the pandemic dragged on, shoppers stayed home, and in 2021, the last anchor store closed its doors. The mall was in foreclosure when KKR Real Estate and Urban Renaissance Group took it over.

The transformation of the site has already started. A new music venue is being constructed in the former Nordstrom site. Local promoters Monqui Presents and national entertainment group AEG are behind the 4,250-capacity venue set to open early next year.

KKR Real Estate and URG plan to turn the rest of the more than 25-acre area into a neighborhood featuring park space, walking paths, new homes and offices. The City of Portland has given approval for the early stages of the development, although groups seeking to save the Lloyd Center have filed two separate appeals.

Those groups, Save Lloyd and the Save Lloyd Ice Coalition, are pushing to preserve parts of the mall — particularly its historic indoor ice rink — and each has challenged the approval process for the redevelopment project. Portland City Council is scheduled to hear their appeals on June 24. The hearing could influence what, if anything, is saved before the mall is torn down. The Lloyd Center owners say the mall is no longer financially sustainable and will close no matter the result of the appeal.

Since anchor stores fled the mall, it’s been filled with community groups, nonprofit organizations and independent retailers. The ice skating rink continues to draw people of various ages and abilities to the mall on a daily basis. Portlanders also use the space for weekly mall walking groups and other meet-ups.

Hundreds of pages of comments against the development were submitted leading up to a public hearing in February, when dozens of people spoke against the demolition of the Lloyd Center.

“This place provides a social and cultural glue for our city that we are gravely taking for granted by considering demolishing it,” Kye Grant, who produces art projects at the mall and is part of the Save Lloyd group, said at the hearing. “Lloyd has a personality, a soul and a beating heart. There’s no other place in the city, or maybe even the world, that brings people together under one roof like Lloyd does.”

Most of the mall’s tenants will have until August 31 to move out. The mall’s management said Trackers Earth, Jumbo’s Pickleball and the Regal Cinema will remain open after that date. Operators confirm there is no plan to relocate the mall’s iconic ice rink.

This story will be updated.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/16/portland-oregon-lloyd-center-mall-demolition/