Oregon State University held an open house for the grand opening of its OSU Portland Center, located in the Meier & Frank Building in downtown Portland on Monday.

The center occupies the entire 40,000-square-foot second floor of the historic building, according to an OSU release. It will function as a home for expanded OSU academic offerings in the Portland area, as well as office and event space.

The OSU Extension Service, the OSU Foundation, the OSU Alumni Association, OSU Athletics and the OSU Advantage, the university’s private industry partnership and commercialization initiative, will all have offices in the new location.

Monday’s festivities included a visit from Benny Beaver, OSU cheerleaders and other school supporters, who gave out cookies and dressed the Pioneer Courthouse Square bronze beaver statues in OSU attire for the day.

The 15-story Meier & Frank Building is located at 621 SW 5th Ave., adjacent to Pioneer Courthouse Square. Built in 1909, the building was once home to the Meier & Frank department store and, later, Macy’s, which closed in 2017.

The Nines Hotel occupies the 6th through the 15th floors of the building. In November, Japanese retailer MUJI opened an 11,000-square-foot store on the ground floor.

-- The Oregonian