http://chatterbox.typepad.com/...tadium-proposed.html

This first set of comments strikes me as architecture gone wild (I just about said horny, borrowing a comment from Soccer City USA, but "wild" has its own double entendre to work with). There's no sense of funding requirements, the lots are private property, and these people obviously see the dollar signs in design opportunities for two places rather than one. If you think politicians work fast and loose with money, look at this stuff. The idea of the Lloyd Cinemas parking lot strikes me as particularly stinky.

The caveat- having a ballpark at the end of the US 30 "expressway" connection to 405 might be underrated... but again, private property right smack dab in industrial territory. HOWEVER, Terminal 1 is not far away, right along the river, and the Fremont Bridge provides quite the backdrop. If a funding source could somehow be married to this, I wonder. I'd love to see a mockup better than what my stick-finger artist skills could provide.

http://www.liquidosity.com/baseballatomsi/

Note that, originally, this site aimed the ballpark at downtown before the guy who drew it up was advised of baseball requirements. Furthermore, there's not a care in the world about how the auto traffic doesn't flow that well down to OMSI. HOWEVER, since OMSI generally doesn't operate at night (?? IMAX??), and since the proposed light rail/pedestrian bridge lands right there, I'm struck that there's a little something to this idea. Of course, again, the main reason for the MC proposal is its marriage to the Convention Center urban renewal area... what's the dollar lure here? This one intrigues me.

While I find the OMSI proposal interesting, and certainly a possibility, I have a concern about not locating in the Rose Quarter area. If the stadium is not built at the MC or Blanchard/PPS site (which I prefer), then I doubt the proposed "entertainment district" with restaurants, pubs, etc., ever gets built, and the area around the Rose Garden will probably remain pretty much as it is. I have a feelign the PPS doesn't want to move right now because they have no place to go; solve that problem, and the other pieces are free to fall into place.

The Lloyd Cinema parking lot proposal MIGHT work for a Triple A balpark (though I have my doubts), but it could never be expanded enough for MLB, and we need to be thinking long term. Not sure about the NW waterfront idea, but that would be just like the OMSI idea - no future development around the Rose Garden.

The future of the MC, a baseball stadium, and MLB2PDX is about to get ver.r.r.ry interesting!