I think this thing is cool beyond description. What the Rose Quarter needs in addition to AAA ball is a 365 day a year attraction. The tower needs open space to take advantage of the wind gusts. The Rose Quarter is just the place. Oh, and did I mention? Derek Hanna is willing to finance it on his own.

I think the SMART tower was being discussed in another thread. How serious is this project? I am in Corvallis and don't catch the news often, so I am out of the loop on this one. When did this actually come out?

As to location, a tower such as this NEEDS to be downtown and in the skyline. I don't think it would do our city justice at the Rose Quarter. I am not saying that it would not be a good location to have it, but a tower such as this with its height needs to be apart of the skyline and that can't be done at the RQ. I was thinking maybe at the Steel Bridgehead project?

I think this will be an awesome addition to our city. It will give us an identity to the country and the world and it will get the city to hopefully remove the ban on building being taller than the ones already built. We need our skyline to grow. I am one that is completely fascinated by buildings and skylines.

SMART Tower at RQ for sure. I have said as much at skyscaperpage.com for months. The location at the bend of the Willamette River to the NW is great for sightlines. The views toward downtown would be great and then you move to the East and North for our mountain views.

Having the tower downtown means you are looking down on the fans of the buildings. Great view that!

The SMART Tower becomes the connection between the two side of the river to make the river the focal point of our city.

Adding this tower to the RQ area along with the Rose Garden; a AAA Ballpark; the OCC; new private pubs/resturants/hotels/offices; and a OCC Hotel would support some of our hopes to truly create a 365 day/24 hour entertainment district.

And finally, when ODOT and the City of Portland decide that Union Station is too small and in the wrong place for higher speed inter-city passenger rail service both N/S and then E/W. At that point in the future, we could see a great recycling of the Memorial Coliseum(MC)(I would place the AAA Stadium at Blanchard) into a Memorial Station (platforms would be underground if you were wondering where the four to six platforms would be at).

For now, give the veterans a much better place to remember the Fallen at the AAA Stadium at Blanchard and turn the shell of the MC into part of the entertainment center that the Vulcan Team (Blazer Suits) talk about but haven't done anything about since the Rose Quarter was created. The MC land belongs to the City, and not to Cornish or the Blazers (Paul A.).

The MC Building needs to do many things: Sports Museum for Oregon; maybe a Hostel; maybe lots of clubs and pubs; and on the first floor the infrastructure for the HSR rail station that I and others think should be developed on the East side of the Willamette River.

My personal vision for HSR was for the trains to come into PDX on a elevate track to give people a snapshot of Downtown PDX and Mt Hood when they leave and arrive in our great city. It would move to an underground alignment from the Morrison Bridge and then go underground at the current I-84/I-5 Interchange. That freeway interchange is moved to the East if you where wondering.

As started years ago, this is a long term project within project operation that will cost Billions down the road. But infrastructure costs billions, right. The question is during the next twenty years where are we going to spend the cash. More concrete in the suburbs (not sustainable) or in cities and towns that wish to build inter-modular transportation systems (sustainable)

So, yes build the SMART Tower at the RQ Mr. Hanna. Please!

Rw

Wow, alot more thought than I put into it. Very well done. You're either an architect or you slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

You forgot one thing though: The City of Portland has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It seems we take more pride in the dreams we dismiss as opposed to the dreams we fulfill. Either way, I like you're vision. Hope for once that Portland will finally reach for the stars.