Architect Michael Graves recently told the A/N Blog that the Portland city officials aren't weighing the option of demolishing the Portland Building. That's very cool to hear, though, to be clear, the city was never dead-set on tearing down the divisive piece of early-'80s postmodernity, but rather weighing a projected $95M needed to fix structural problems, and make the interior more hospitable to its frustrated, "sun-deprived workers." It was only after that large figure was revealed that some city commissioners called for its outright demolition
Anyhoo, it would seem that Graves' own comments, and the op-eds they helped inspire, have had some effect; Dana Haynes, communications director for Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, tells A/N that the Portland Building is not under threat of joining the next year's iteration of the Curbed demo pageant (though Haynes said he was not aware that Graves had been appointed to a committee that would oversee the redesign effort, as the architect suggested he was).
In Graves' estimation, Portland officials "didn't want to be known as the society that tore down the Portland Building."
· Portland Building, Once Eyed for Demolition, Will Be Saved, Graves Says [A/N Blog]