Pioneer Courthouse Square's coffee corner to get new life.(upgrade of the square by a Starbucks Coffee franchise in Portland, Oregon)

How about some lighting and Liszt with that latte?

Pioneer Courthouse Square and Starbucks Corp. are sprucing up Portland's most popular "living room," paying for new lighting and adding classical music to upgrade the environs of the popular coffee corner.

"It's what we call a front-door expansion," said Karen Whitman, manager of Pioneer' Courthouse Square. "All of it has to do with making it a people-friendly place."

The square has long been a gathering point for the city designed to make downtown a destination point and fulfill the city's vision of making it the clean, safe and active heart of the metropolitan area. It's owned by the city and operates through a management contract overseen by the …