Portland Spaces

Natural Capital Center

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Slideshow:The Natural Capital Center in autumn, Andie Petkus | PACCO event on the rooftop terrace, Kim Nguyen | Original warehouse, Oregon Historical Society | Aerial view of the building and adjacent park  

Explore the Ecotrust building

The Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, also called the Ecotrust Building, is a place to experience connections between nature, commerce, and community. After a century as a hub for the goods of the industrial economy, this first-of-its-kind, LEED-certified historic renovation continues to evolve as a home for connection and fresh thinking.

Welcome

Natural Capital Center (The Ecotrust Building)
721 NW 9th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209
Building open daily 8:30 am – 5:30 pm

Come Visit

The Natural Capital Center is open to all. Stop by for lunch or dinner, observe the historic building materials and restoration techniques, and enjoy the vitality of the native plant landscaping.  

Field guide

Take a self-guided tour of the Natural Capital Center and learn about its history, its renovation, and the people behind the vision. In the Natural Capital Center atrium, you can pick up a free paper copy that folds out into the poster shown above. Want to learn more about the historic renovation? Check out the 2002 publication Rebuilt Green

Food & drink

Hot Lips Pizza

Hot Lips Pizza has been serving at the Natural Capital Center since 2001. Open daily for dine-in and takeout.

Host an event

Ecotrust Events

We believe in the power of convening. The Natural Capital Center’s community gathering spaces offer a place to hatch your next big idea, build new partnerships, dance, feast, and celebrate any occasion.

When you book a venue with Ecotrust Events, you support our nonprofit work to create transformative change at the intersection of equity, economy, and the environment. See our Event Calendar for the public events happening in our spaces, and contact Ecotrust Events to host your own. 

Community grants

Ecotrust Events is committed to creating vibrant buildings that promote equity and honor diversity. Our Community Grants offer nonprofits with limited means and that center communities of color the opportunity to use an event space, free of cost.

Like a healthy ecosystem, our building combines density, diversity, and connectedness to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

—Spencer B. Beebe, Ecotrust founder; shown here with former board member Jane Jacobs. 

Building community

In the building

community members

The Natural Capital Center is home to over two dozen diverse organizations and social enterprises that share our commitment to equity, economy, and the environment. For leasing opportunities please contact Apex Real Estate Partners. Need building management support? Contact  Interurban Property Management.

Willamette University

The Natural Capital Center is proud to welcome Willamette University to Suite 200. The space will serve as a nexus for the graduate and professional programming offered by the University, including Master in Computer Science, Master in Data Science, and MBA for Professionals.

We honor

Billy Frank, Jr.

The Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center is named for the Nisqually tribal leader and 2003 Indigenous Leadership Awards Honoree from Olympia, Wash., who was one of the most effective voices for clean water, flourishing salmon populations, and collaboration. His activism led to the transformative 1974 Boldt Decision, which upheld Washington tribes’ right to fish in all usual and accustomed places.

Jean Vollum

A philanthropist and early Ecotrust board member, Jean Vollum made a critical gift that allowed us to purchase the entire block where the Natural Capital Center sits today. Jean and her husband Howard were regular supporters of the arts, scientific  research, and environmental conservation efforts throughout the region.

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