Now, however--though it has happened before without results--ateam of consultants from around the nation is working on a plan tocomplete the development, one way or another. The grandest planscall for the razing of Memorial Coliseum, the PortlandTrailblazers' old facility, as well the addition of a baseballstadium on city school district property just north of the Quarter.Tearing down the Coliseum would open up the equivalent of four cityblocks, planners say. The other option being presented at publichearings recently is one that retains all existing buildings, butpossibly renovates them for other uses.

Both scenarios talk about better pedestrian access, a remodeledlight rail transit station, more park space and better access tothe nearby Willamette riverfront. One possibility spoken of in bothplans includes hiding the nearby riverfront railroad tracks in atunnel topped with buildings and more park space. How much it wouldcost to implement either plan or where the money would come fromare not addressed in the current proposal. Another round of publicand private meetings will be scheduled when the planning team getsback together in Portland in March with a proposed final version,which ultimately will have to be approved by the PortlandDevelopment Commission, owner of some of the potentialredevelopment parcels, as well as the City Council.

This is the third such plan since Paul Allen said he could turnthe Rose Quarter into a 24-hour, mixed-use entertainment district.Excitement around the original plan brought in major restaurant andretail concepts like Cucina Cucina Italian Cafe, TGI Friday's FrontRow Sports Grill and Nike into the Quarter. The 1995 Rose Quartermaster plan laid out the strategy for creating the district, butthose involved in the process say few if any of the proposals wereever implemented. Consequently or coincidentally, all of theaforementioned retailers have ceased operations save for CucinaCucina, which real estate sources say is either paying a discountedrent or able to make it work by using employees from it's nearbyTigard location, said to be one of the company's best performingstores.