Don’t call it a grand opening. Officials with the Port of Portland publicly unveiled the new terminal at Portland International Airport Aug. 14, starting with a low-key “friends and family” event that drew over 1,000 people, including many project workers and grandees like Gov. Tina Kotek. Conspicuously absent were a ribbon and giant scissors. “One thing we hear a lot from people is that this place feels like their home — their place. So a ‘housewarming’ felt more appropriate,” says Curtis Robinhold, executive director of the Port of Portland. “You don’t invite people over to a new home and cut a ribbon. It felt so un-Portland to have a ribbon cutting.” This week the airport officially unveiled its expanded main terminal with a 9-acre mass-timber roof, 20 dining and shopping establishments, and other pre-security features. This phase of the $2 billion upgrade doubles the airport’s capacity, in addition to significantly improving its style quotient. The newly unveiled portion is 600,000 square feet, or about 60% of the total project size. The next phase will tackle the remaining 40% — mainly areas at opposite sides of the terminal that formerly held TSA screening stations. That phase is expected to open in February 2026. There were hiccups along the way. The project was originally supposed to conclude in May but was delayed after several safety incidents that resulted in no injuries but rattled the project team. So why such a grand project? Why a decade-long timeline with such heavy traveler impacts? Robinhold says PDX was on track to outgrow itself and needed to be updated to expand capacity and improve seismic resilience. In the final designs, Port officials opted for several costlier options, like using wood and sourcing it all from family-owned and tribal forests. But these decisions were driven by values, he says. Pre-security shopping and dining have long been a part of PDX. Until it closed in 2021, the Clocktower Plaza (often called the New PDX Terminal Celebrated With ‘Housewarming’ Officials exhale at the end of a major $2B project, with one final, 16-month phase to go. BY GARRETT ANDREWS | PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN Curtis Robinhold, executive director of the Port of Portland, at PDX’s “housewarming” in August 58
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