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Entertainment companies Monqui Presents and AEG Presents broke ground on their new Lloyd Center music venue at a press conference Oct. 22.
Standing in what was once the women’s shoe department of the now-demolished Nordstrom and what will soon be the music venue’s lobby, business leaders from Monqui, AEG and Lloyd Center all shared their visions for what a few of them called “a game-changer” for the Portland live music scene.
Gov. Tina Kotek spoke at the press conference about how the venue will be a boon to Portland’s robust culture of music and performance and to the Lloyd District.
“It’s going to bring a new legacy to this neighborhood,” Kotek said. “This is a catalytic project for this community and serves, literally, as a cornerstone for the future development of Lloyd Center Mall.”
The venue—which does not have a name yet—will open in the first quarter of 2027, according to Monqui co-founder Mike Quinn. AEG and Monqui, a longtime local promotion company, plan to host 125-150 events there in 2027. The three-story venue will stand at 68,000 square feet and have a capacity for 4,000 guests. It will provide 17 full-time jobs and 80–100 hourly staff per show.
The press conference also served as an important marker in the race between Monqui and Live Nation, who are both striving to build new venues in town. Live Nation pulled a variety of building permits for its property at 1211 SE Water Ave., this fall. A permit issued Sept. 18 is for a new two-story building with a mezzanine, food services, artist locker rooms, loading dock, offices and an artist lounge.
In Sept. 2024, when asked by WW if Portland is big enough for both new music venues, Quinn said, “No.”
The Lloyd Center venue will be similar to a few of AEG’s other new venues around the country: the Pinnacle in Nashville, Tenn., the Roadrunner in Boston and Mission Ballroom in Denver. The company’s guiding design principals are fan experience, state-of-the-art sound, and sightlines, according to AEG.
“This venue is going to change the way, for the better, how Portland experiences live music,” says Don Strasburg, president of AEG Presents in the Northwest. “This size and type of room has not existed in Portland. So many amazing artists need this type of space.”
