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Portland Business Journal: $250M ‘Science Quarter’ Plan Fulfills Longtime Dream

The South Waterfront development links OMSI with higher-ed institutions

Portland Business Journal - by Wendy Culverwell Business Journal staff writer

 

A $250 million building proposed by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education could be an important next step toward creating a science and technology district spanning both sides of the Willamette River near Portland’s South Waterfront.

Last week, the board included funding for a state-of-the-art medical building in its $1.36 million capital project budget. The proposal will be evaluated by the governor for inclusion in the budget submitted to the 2009 Legislature.

The proposed life sciences facility is the centerpiece of the higher education system’s capital plans for the 2009-2011 biennium.

If approved, the money would pay for a facility supporting not only Oregon Health & Science University, but a whole team that includes Portland State University, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Portland Community College system.

Proposed for a site near the Ross Island Bridge on the Schnitzer Campus, on the western side of the Willamette, it could demonstrate Portland’s commitment to becoming a world class center for science and technology. Entire swaths of the city could be targeted for research and related businesses.

The city of Portland created the idea of a science and technology district extending from Marquam Hill to PSU’s downtown campus and across the river to the OMSI site in 2002.

Thanks to the Portland Aerial Tram, the once-separate areas are easier to reach than ever before.

And more links are coming: A new bridge will transit the Willamette River between the Ross Island and Marquam bridges, cutting travel time between OMSI — on the east side of the river — and the South Waterfront to about two minutes.

Extensions of the Portland Street Car and Max light rail along the river’s eastern banks will strengthen the cross-river connection even more.

Jim Francesconi, a former Portland city commissioner now serving on the higher education board, said the idea is to create an “intelligence quarter” devoted to health education, technology and sustainability.

The South Waterfront, he said, “is not just about condominiums.”

Both OHSU and OMSI say they are natural partners. OHSU mints medical professionals; OMSI is a leading center for science education, building enthusiasm for all things science in its hordes of young visitors.

OHSU Provost Lesley Hallick said the partnership is natural, but also necessary in an era of falling public support for higher education.

“Our paucity of resources drives collaboration,” she told a Portland City Club gathering this week.

As a learning center devoted to science, Hallick said OMSI can help fill the pipeline of students willing to tackle tough subjects and in turn, help universities educate the growing number of medical professionals needed to serve an aging population.

“OMSI is a critical partner to keep kids engaged in scientific wonder,” Hallick said. “The pipeline in math and science is very thin.”

OMSI, though struggling to retire the debt it took on to construct its riverside quarters, has ambitious plans for its campus, which grew to 22 acres in 2005 when it purchased neighboring land from Portland General Electric.

The city of Portland is leasing the site from OMSI as a staging area for the Big Pipe sewer project mining operation. The city’s rent payments are helping OMSI buy the site.

The city is set to pull out in 2011, leaving OMSI free to redevelop.

OMSI President Nancy Steuber told the City Club crowd the organization already is talking about plans for the property and the kinds of programs it can develop.

Ideas include a center to promote sustainable development and excellence in science education.

Overall, she said OMSI wants to create a district people want to visit, one that will generate enough revenue to support itself.

The plan even includes space for science and technology-related business, though Steuber cautioned that the vision is very preliminary.

But OHSU, landlocked at its hilltop campus and looking for room to grow, has always considered the river a navigable obstacle, Hallick said.

“We always envisioned that we would need to cross the river,” she said.

In all, the Oregon University System is asking lawmakers to approve a a $2.46 billion budget for the 2009-2011 biennium, a figure that includes $1.1 billion for operations.

That’s 27 percent higher than the current budget.


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