Portland's 30-acre Waterfront Park redesign picked up another $750,000 from the Metro Council, bringing regional grant funding for the project to $1.5 million.

The Metro Council voted in February to award the second 2040 Planning & Development Grant to Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) for phase two of the Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park project. PP&R formally announced the grant on Oct. 2. The grant matches a 2025 award of the same amount for phase one.

The new money will fund schematic design for the full park, a topographical survey and further community engagement. The bowl area is the project's centerpiece, with an estimated capital cost of roughly $40 million. PP&R said additional public and private funding will be sought for design development and phased construction.

"Access to the Willamette River is part of what makes this region special, and that access should extend to everyone," Metro Councilor Mary Nolan said in February when the council approved the grant.

Three international design teams are now developing concept designs for the entire park. PP&R named the finalists on Sept. 15 after winnowing 50 submissions from more than 150 firms across 15 countries. The three teams are SWA of New York, Bjarke Ingels Group of Brooklyn and Studio Egret West of London. Each team includes a Portland-based partner: SWA's features PLACE as landscape architect, Bjarke Ingels Group's includes Jennifer Bonner/MALL and Studio Egret West's includes West of West.

Each finalist will receive a $50,000 competition fee upon completing the second stage.

The competition jury is co-chaired by Prof. Maurice D. Cox of Harvard's Graduate School of Design and Carol Coletta, a Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Jury members include representatives from the Port of Portland, Travel Portland, Friends of Columbia Gorge and former PP&R director Zari Santner.

Mayor Keith Wilson has called the redesign a priority initiative for downtown revitalization. Interim PP&R Director Art Pearce said the park "has the potential to reshape how people experience the heart of Portland."

The park opened in 1978 after the removal of the Harbor Drive freeway along the Willamette River's west bank. The design competition launched July 7 after more than a year of community engagement, including surveys, stakeholder meetings and a public workshop on June 30.

A public exhibition of the concept designs is planned for early 2027, both in Portland and online. The winning team will be announced in spring 2027.