Showdown looms over Portland City Council vote on music venue moratorium
Rendering/ Courtesy of Mile Marker Investments
Mile Marker Investments, in partnership with Live Nation, aims to build a music performance venue on the site of an old printing press building at 244 Cumberland Ave. in Portland.
The developer of a proposed 3,300-seat concert hall in downtown Portland is already considering a Plan B ahead of Monday’s City Council vote on a controversial measure that would stand in the way of the project.
If the measure goes ahead, the city would impose a 180-day moratorium on theater and performance hall projects with a 2,000-plus capacity while the Housing and Economic Development Committee reviews and recommends amendments to the City Code to address concerns related to the impact of large entertainment venues on public parking, traffic congestion, public safety and other infrastructure.
The moratorium would apply retroactively to Dec. 1, 2024.
While the proposal by two City Council members does not mention any specific projects, it would pose a hurdle to the concert hall envisioned by Mile Marker Investments in partnership with Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: LYV). Mile Marker, based in Scarborough, developed the Longfellow Hotel on Portland's West End, while California-based Live Nation is a multinational entertainment company that owns Ticketmaster and operates the MGM concert hall in Boston.
The venue, to be built on the site of an old printing press building at 244 Cumberland Ave., would generate an annual estimated economic impact of $44.2 million, according to a report submitted to the City Council.
“We are hopeful the moratorium will not pass,” Todd Goldenfarb, managing director of Mile Marker Investments, told Mainebiz on Thursday.
“If it were to pass we are fully prepared to immediately defend our rights as developers who are following the zoning the city has established,” he added. “You just can’t change the rules on people midstream. It sets a very dangerous precedent.”
The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce is also against a moratorium, citing potential harm to the city’s recent overhaul of the land use code in a process known as ReCode.
“Portland must remain a city that respects its established planning processes, not one that changes the rules midway to single out specific projects,” Quincy Hentzel, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement emailed to Mainebiz.
“We should have the ability to rely on consistent, transparent and equitable development policies,” she added. “Retroactive moratoria, such as the one currently proposed, weaken the integrity of ReCode, diminish investor confidence, and jeopardize the sustainable growth essential to our economy.”
The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed moratorium in the second of two meetings on Monday.
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