Explore Tigard

Downtown Tigard

Exciting changes are taking shape in Downtown Tigard! Tigard’s historic and walkable downtown has unique shopping, eating and drinking establishments, superior transit access and access to the Fanno Creek Trail. Come experience the transformation—from new building upgrades to the newly renovated Main Street. There’s something for everyone!

What's New?

Downtown Tigard’s Universal Plaza
Preliminary design work has started on Downtown's Universal Plaza, a city park and event space large enough to hold major events. We need your help shaping the Plaza! Click here to comment on the initial design concepts or to add your own.

In the Works...

Downtown Tigard's Universal Plaza
Preliminary design work has started on Downtown's Universal Plaza, a city park and event space large enough to hold major events. Conceptual plans feature a splash pad, tree canopy maze, artwork and tool sharing pavilion.

Located on Burnham Street and Fanno Creek, Downtown's Universal Plaza will provide access for downtown visitors and make key connections to walking trails.

This plaza will be funded through urban renewal dollars collected in the Downtown area. The City Center Urban Renewal Plan calls to "develop urban spaces that provide active and passive recreational opportunities for pedestrians and attract residents and visitors to downtown." The development of downtown parks and public spaces are part of this goal.

Main Street at Fanno Creek Redevelopment
As part of its redevelopment plan, the city is proposing a mixed-use building and public space on Main Street overlooking Fanno Creek.

The Town Center Development Agency (TCDA) has plans to redevelop the two Main Street properties it acquired. The urban renewal agency was awarded $400,000 in grants from the EPA Brownfield Cleanup program. Cleanup work has largely been completed, and next steps of the redevelopment effort are underway. View the project timeline.

Tigard Street Heritage Trail Tigard Street Heritage Trail rendering
The Tigard Street Heritage Trail uses a three-quarter-mile inactive rail corridor and provides a safe, off-street trail connecting to Tigard's Downtown. When fully designed, it will include lighting, landscaping, trail amenities, and cultural components. A small plaza will also be developed with amenities where the trail meets Main Street.

Main Street Green Street Phase 2
Phase 1 of the Main Street Green Street project rebuilt the southern half of Main Street in Downtown Tigard, from Pacific Highway/99W to the railroad crossing. Phase 2 of the Main Street Green Street Retrofit will continue the Phase 1 improvements across the railroad tracks north to Scoffins Street. The improvements will include new street lighting, pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, and stormwater planters. Design and engineering is currently scheduled for FY 2017-18, with construction in FY 2019-20.

Tigard Urban Lofts Development
Two properties are being studied with a Metro grant for potential redevelopment into transit oriented mixed use: the Nicoli property and the Tigard Transit Center. The Transit Center may be reconfigured if the SW Corridor project comes to Tigard.

Downtown Events

Downtown Street Fair
The Tigard Street Fair is a mix of entertainment, arts and crafts, community booths, fun, food and more. Free admission and family-friendly! Hosted annually by the Tigard Downtown Alliance.

Tigard Latino Festival
Held in September, this annual event celebrates Latino heritage and culture. Learn more about the 2017 Latino Festival here.

Downtown Art Walk
Produced by the City of Tigard and Tigard Downtown Alliance, the Art Walk is held in the spring on Main Street and invites artists from around the region to display their work inside participating downtown businesses.

Tigard Farmers Market
At the Tigard Farmers Market, many vendors bring the fruits of the surrounding agricultural land. These weekly gatherings feature fun, food and entertainment, locally grown fresh fruit & vegetables, flowers, plants, honey, baked goods and more. Click here for more info.

Downtown Art

Gateway Art
Downtown Tigard has two eye-catching pieces of art at either end of Main Street where it meets on Highway 99W. Two 16-foot steel sculptures that resemble flower petals were installed in 2015 alongside gateway improvements. These include stonework, a “Welcome to Downtown Tigard” sign, public seating areas, lighting and landscaping.

Artist Brian Borrello designed the artwork. He received input during a months-long public process from Tigard stakeholders, including the City Center Advisory Commission Public Art Subcommittee, composed of Tigard residents and business owners. The Public Art Subcommittee’s criteria required a project that would draw attention to the downtown area and ensure people could see it from the highway. The subcommittee’s review also called for considering the needs of the community, the installation site, businesses in the area and safety and maintenance issues.

The project was funded by urban renewal funds. These are tax revenues raised in the City Center Urban Renewal District that are spent on projects within the district. Project costs were approximately $500,000. Of that amount, $80,000 was for the two sculptures and the remainder covered the gateway improvements.

The city and its partner, the Tigard Downtown Alliance (TDA), have identified public art as an important component to a vital downtown. The TDA has organized events like the Tigard Art Walk and sponsored the glass baskets on Main Street light poles and temporary art installations.

Art on Loan
A partnership between the City of Tigard and the Tigard Downtown Alliance (TDA), this program places art leased from local artists in locations around downtown Tigard. The program currently consists of two pieces – Mobius and Peer. Mobius was created from recycled post-consumer metals by artist Ben Dye and can currently be seen outside of Symposium Coffee (12345 SW Main St.). Peer, the newest piece of public art in Downtown Tigard, is part of a public/private partnership. The Tigard Downtown Alliance is leasing the artwork from artist Mike Suri.

TDA Board Member Mike Stevenson, Owner of B&B Print Source, has donated the space for Peer and paid for the base on his property. This is public art funded by downtown stakeholders and the TDA, one of our private sector partner in downtown revitalization.

Art on Loan Mobius Art on Loan Peer

Downtown Streetscape Improvements

Murals

SubUrban
The Tigard Downtown Alliance commissioned 10 Portland area artists skilled in street art to create 10 sub-urban art panels as part of a weekend long exhibition for Downtown’s May 2015 Art Walk. This project was recognized by the Oregon State Main Street Program as the best downtown special event in 2015. Click here for more images.

Downtown Programs

Urban Renewal Matching Funds – This program provides matching grants for owners of existing businesses in the Urban Renewal District to make improvements to their business.

Brownfields Initiative – Brownfield redevelopment is necessary for Tigard to become a more livable, walkable and economically resilient community with fewer environmental health risks. This program offers grant funding to help remediate environmentally contaminated occupied, vacant and/or underutilized properties for redevelopment.

Vertical Housing Development Zone - Tigard's Vertical Housing Development Zone (VHDZ) encourages multi-story mixed-use development in two targeted areas of the City of Tigard. The ten-year partial property tax exemption for new construction applies to the first four floors of residential development built above first-story commercial development.

Downtown History

Main Street's identity as Tigard's center dates from the construction of an electric commuter train line in 1910. Rapid growth occurred around Main Street in Tigardville (as it was then known). Many commercial buildings were constructed which housed businesses such as restaurants, grocery stores, a dance hall, a blacksmith and a livery stable. Several historical photos show the way things used to look on Main Street. “Travel to the Past” is an interactive map showcasing historic photos of Tigard.

In 1940, an overpass for the Pacific Highway (99W) was built just north of Main Street. Much of Tigard's new development moved away from Main Street and towards commercial strips along Pacific Highway and elsewhere.

In September 2005 the volunteer Downtown Task Force, made up of residents, property and business owners, completed the Downtown Improvement Plan adobe icon

(13 MB). This plan will guide the development of a Town Center for Tigard and laid the foundation for the 2006 Urban Renewal Plan and District. The Urban Renewal Plan and associated tax increment financing have provided structure, tools, and funding for projects that are helping to revitalize downtown Tigard.

DOWNTOWN PLANS

Tigard Downtown Improvement Plan (2005): Provides the blueprint for the evolution of Downtown Tigard into a vital, vibrant, mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly environment.

City Center Urban Renewal Plan (2005): Contains goals, objectives and projects for the revitalization of the City Center (Downtown) Urban Renewal Area.

Downtown Future Vision: A visual refinement of the Tigard Downtown Improvement Plan. Click here for a summary version of the Downtown Future Vision.