Minnesota Ave
Pedestrian Plaza
Location: Bend, OR
The Minnesota Avenue Pedestrian Plaza reimagines a narrow, congested downtown street as a civic space that links Bend’s commercial core to one of its most iconic public landscapes. Commissioned by the Downtown Bend Business Association (DBBA), SZABO developed early visual concepts for transforming the 300-foot block of Minnesota Avenue between Bond and Wall into a pedestrian-oriented plaza positioned between the downtown parking garage and the breezeway connection to Drake Park.
The site already features the ingredients of a successful pedestrian corridor. Minnesota Avenue sits within Bend’s historic downtown, serves about a dozen businesses, and connects directly to a breezeway leading toward Drake Park, a long-established community gathering place with riverfront access, open lawn, an outdoor stage, art, and trail connections into downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Yet the street itself remains constrained by narrow sidewalks, limited curbside space, and vehicle congestion, which reduces its capacity to function as a comfortable place to linger, gather, or move easily between downtown and the park.
SZABO’s concept responds by shifting the block from a pass-through street to a public room. Early studies envisioned café-style seating, restaurant spill-out space, large shade trees, rotating local art, a central water feature paired with fire elements, and a permanent stage platform that could support performances, artists, and community events. The spatial organization strengthens that civic function by consolidating two crosswalks into one raised crossing, calming traffic at the edges and reinforcing pedestrian priority where the plaza meets the surrounding street network.
Because of its position between the parking garage and Drake Park, the plaza has the potential to become an important threshold space in downtown. The design creates a sequence of arrival, pause, and activity that can support both everyday use and programmed events and nightlife. The result is a public realm improvement that benefits adjacent businesses while also giving downtown a stronger sense of identity and welcome.
At this early stage, the project remains conceptual, but the larger opportunity is clear. Downtown Bend has not seen a major reinvestment of this kind since the urban renewal efforts of the 1990s, and DBBA framed the Minnesota Avenue promenade as part of a broader conversation about the future vision for the historic core, including walkability, bike access, public art, restrooms, and stronger connections between downtown and adjacent districts. SZABO’s concept positions Minnesota Avenue as a prime candidate for that evolution by turning a constrained block into a flexible public landscape that will support commerce, culture, and everyday downtown life in equal measure.
