Northeast Multnomah Street and Northeast 9th Avenue
Portland, Oregon
Portland -and Oregon's- first mall-type shopping center took over 35 years to get from conception to reality. The complex was envisioned in the 1920s by Ralph Bramel Lloyd (1875-1953), a Los Angeles-based oil company executive and real estate entrepreneur.
By the mid-1950s, LLOYD CENTER was being developed by the Lloyd Corporation, Limited, a joint venture of three Lloyd family members, and the Prudential Insurance Company. The open-air mall was built on a 50-acre tract. This was located 1.5 miles northeast of Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square, on the city's central east side. Ground was broken in April 1958.
John Graham, Junior, of Seattle, designed the 100 million dollar structure. It encompassed approximately 1,200,000 leasable square feet and was one of the largest shopping centers in the United States at the time of its official dedication. This was held on August 1, 1960. Officiating at the grand opening were Mark Hatfield (R) (Governor of Oregon) and Terry Schrunk (Mayor of Portland). Mayor Schrunk cut a ceremonial ribbon, which released 700 homing pigeons.
LLOYD CENTER was configured with 3 full floors; Multnomah Level, Mall Level and Second Floor Level. An Intermediate Level was a sub-floor sandwiched between the Multnomah Level and Mall Level of the North Mall.
In its original state, the Multnomah Level served as a parking deck, which included basements of major stores, office spaces, a barber shop and Lloyd Center Ice Rink. This skating facility opened, in September 1960, as the second shopping mall ice rink in the nation (the first having been dedicated, at Long Island, New York's ROOSEVELT FIELD CENTER, in 1958).
The Mall Level of LLOYD CENTER was devoted entirely to retail stores and restaurants. The third floor -or Second Floor Level- housed leased office spaces and the Aladdin Restaurant, which was built over the Ice Rink. Portland-based Meier & Frank occupied a 5-level (314,000 square foot) store at the center of the center. Seattle-based Best's Apparel leased a 2-level (52,800 square foot) store at the end of the West Mall. This was the chain's first branch. Nordstrom's Shoes was located across the West Mall concourse.
By 1961, there were 110 stores, restaurants and services. These included Lerner Shops, Stevens & Son Jewelers, Van Duyn Candies, Mr. C's Hippopotamus Restaurant, a 2-level (97,300 square foot) J.C. Penney and 2-level (62,700 square foot) F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10. Outparcel stores included Pay 'n Save Drug, a Safeway supermarket, Tradewell Stores supermarket and 3-level (91,000 square foot) J. J. Newberry 5 & 10.
Early shopping malls in the vicinity of LLOYD CENTER were built on a smaller scale, hence, they did not provide any measurable competition. The first, EASTPORT PLAZA {4.4 miles southeast, in Portland} was dedicated in 1960. The first stores in MALL 205 {4.3 miles southeast, also in Portland} opened in 1970.
The first formidable rival, VANCOUVER MALL {9.1 miles northeast, in Vancouver, Washington} debuted in 1977. This was followed by CLACKAMAS TOWN CENTER {7.4 miles southeast, in Clackamas County} in 1981. PIONEER PLACE {in Downtown Portland} was dedicated in 1990.
Over the years, LLOYD CENTER has had an ever-changing line-up of tenants. Stores have come, gone, come back, closed and been replaced in such a dizzying pace that it is hard to keep up with all of the changes. We hope to, at least, cover the most important of these in this write up.
In 1963, Nordstrom acquired Best's Apparel. In August 1967, they rebranded the mall's Best's and Nordstrom's Shoes stores as a singular Nordstrom Best location. The name was shortened to Nordstrom in December 1972. At this time, J.C. Penney was enlarged into a 3-level (144,000 square foot) store. Portland-based Lipmans had added a 2-level (50,000 square foot) unit to the far end of the West Mall. The store opened on November 2, 1972. This expansion included five new inline stores.
Lipmans was rebranded by Seattle-based Frederick & Nelson on April 2, 1979. The store was re-rebranded again in mid-1987, when it became a Lipmans Red Tag Clearance Center. This operation lasted only a few months. In August of the same year, stores in the Lipmans chain were rebranded by Spokane-based The Crescent.
Meanwhile, LLOYD CENTER had become rail-transit-accessible. Revenue service commenced, on the 15-route-mile Metropolitan Area Express light rail line, on September 5, 1986. A MAX station was located 1 block south of the mall, at Northeast 11th Avenue and Holladay Street.
The mall was acquired by Indiana's Melvin Simon & Associates (today's Simon Property Group) in May 1986. They announced a major renovation in October 1987. The cost of this project was estimated to be between 30 and 40 million dollars. Work got underway in early 1988.
Courts and concourses were enclosed with vaulted glass ceilings. Meier & Frank was given a face lift and six escalators installed throughout the complex. Moreover, the first floor was converted into a full level of stores. Two parking garages were added to the existing decks; one at the northwest corner of the mall, another at the southeast.
As the mall renovation was getting underway, Bellevue, Washington-based Lamonts bought stores in The Crescent chain. Apparently, The Crescent, on the West Mall, was shuttered. Lamonts established a 2-level (47,000 square foot) store on the North Mall, which opened for business on July 29, 1988.
The mall renovation continued with the installation of a 16-bay Food Court on the third floor of the North Mall. The vacant Lipmans-Frederick & Nelson-The Crescent building was acquired by Nordstrom. It was
demolished and replaced with a 3-level (150,000 square foot) store. This
new Nordstrom held its grand opening on August 24, 1990.
The new and improved LLOYD CENTER held its grand re-opening on August 21, 1991. It now encompassed approximately 1,472,000 leasable square feet and attained the status of largest shopping mall in
the Beaver State; a title it had relinquished to Tigard's WASHINGTON
SQUARE in 1974. The remodeling project, whose cost had been estimated at 40 million dollars in 1987, ended up with a 200 million dollar price tag!
A new mall multiplex was dedicated as part of the refurbishment. The Act III Theatres Lloyd Mall 8 showed first features on December 20, 1991. Installed on the mall's third floor, it joined a freestanding venue, the Act III Theatres Lloyd Center 10. This multiplex, built in the southeastern periphery of the mall, had opened on December 19, 1986.
The mall's merchandising musical chairs continued into the 1990s. Woolworth had closed in September 1982. The building was leased by
Rubenstein's Furniture, which opened in November 1984 and closed for
good in October 1993. Marshalls assumed the vacant space and held a
grand opening in November 1993. The mall was sold to Columbus, Ohio's Glimcher Realty Trust in May 1998.
Lamonts had been shuttered in January 1995. The space was divided between a 2-level Ross Dress For Less and 1-level Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble welcomed first shoppers in November 2001, with Ross opening in 2004. J.C. Penney had shuttered their store in June 1998. Sears remodeled the vacant building and opened on October 13, 1999. Meier & Frank was "Macy-ated" on September 9, 2006.
In March 2010, it was announced that the Glimcher Realty Trust, which had become financially strapped as a result of The Great Recession, was entering into a two-mall joint venture with the New York City-based Blackstone Group. Two shopping centers were involved in this arrangement; LLOYD CENTER and Tampa, Florida's WESTSHORE PLAZA.
In June 2013, Glimcher and Blackstone sold LLOYD CENTER to Dallas-based Cypress Equities Real Estate Investment Management. At this time, the mall encompassed 178 stores and forty office spaces. One of these store spaces was soon vacant. Nordstrom went dark on January 10, 2015.
This store closing transpired as the mall was being given a 50 million dollar renovation. The project got underway in the summer of 2014 and was completed in the spring of 2017. When construction dust settled, the Ice Chalet and center court had been reconfigured and mall concourses refurbished. The Intermediate Level was removed. Several stores had also been opened to adjacent parking areas via Streetscape storefronts.
Unfortunately, this revitalization of LLOYD CENTER was not entirely successful. The complex encountered several major store closings. Sears went dark in September 2018, with Marshalls pulling up stakes in January 2019. The shuttering of Macy's, in January 2021, left LLOYD CENTER with no operational anchor stores.
In December 2021, KKR Real Estate Finance Trust, Incorporated, of New York City, foreclosed on the mall. It was sold to the Seattle-based Urban Renaissance Group in December 2021. They submitted a Design Advice Request to the City of Portland in September 2023.
Under this proposal, the moribund mall would be redeveloped as a "vibrant and sustainable mix of uses." These would include residential, retail, food service and entertainment components. The mall's Ice Rink would be retained. Demolition of the abandoned Nordstrom commenced in June 2025. The structure was being replaced by a live music venue.
Sources:
The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon)
The Oregon Daily Emerald (University of Oregon, Eugene)
The Portland Observer
The Eugene Register-Guard
"Dual Anchor Shopping Centers 1952-1965" / Richard Longstreth
https://ancestors.familysearch.org
https://www.angelfire.com / "Meier & Frank -Lloyd Center- Portland, Oregon / Mark Bozanich
https://www.portlandmaps.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.glimcher.com / Glimcher Realty Trust (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://www.lloydcenter.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback machine)
https://www.lloydcenter.com
https://www.trimet.org / Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon
https://www.urbanrengroup.com/ Urban Renaissance Group
"Lloyd Center" article on Wikipedia
