A facelift isn't good enough.

Public and private developers say one of Portland’s busiest SmartPark garages should be demolished and replaced.

The Portland Development Commission is willing to spend up to $30 million in public money to remove what it calls a barrier to progress.

That means tearing down the garage on SW 10th and Yamhill Street.

“It's one of the few locations in downtown where you have a nexus of streetcar, light rail and … public parking,” explained PDC Senior Project Manager Lisa Abuaf.

KGW

A Smart Park garage in downtown Portland.

As a result, the block is better served by a new mix of housing, retail and modern design features, says downtown developer John Carroll.

He walked around the sevens-story building Friday, pointing out its deficiencies, including large expanses of brick and dimly lit stairwells that smell of urine.

“What happens at the street level? Shouldn't there be windows? Shouldn't there be services? Shouldn't there be light? Shouldn't there be activity inside?”

Carroll wants to start from scratch on a $160 million-project that would, in the end, reduce the current 800 public parking spots to 600.

The city's development commission is okay with those numbers.

The PDC says demand for short-term parking use is naturally lower on a block surrounded by public transportation.

“The 600 (parking spaces) actually more than covers the parking spaces that are used for short term at maximum capacity.”

“To me that's really important,” said Rick Williams, the former manager of the garages and the co-inventor of the affordability-driven SmartPark brand.

Williams worries about parking garage fees going up under any new development scenario.

“They may get the same amount of parking back but the customer and the retailer are not getting the same option back which is reasonable retail-based parking,” he said.

The PDC says standing behind SmartPark is “a given.”

Carroll is happy to help reinvent a site he says isn't working.

“This has been vacant for -not days, weeks, months but years, “ he explained, pointing to a corner retail space at the building that sits dark and empty. “And it suggests that it's not a viable -it's not a safe feeling place.”

Carroll says he understands the challenges facing the condo market.

He says the new building could mix senior housing and apartments with condos and, perhaps, hotel rooms.

In as little as 18 months, the parties hope to agree on a more specific plan.