As the future of Portland’s Moda Center remains in flux, city leaders are looking for other ways to redevelop public land near the NBA arena.

A city council committee unanimously advanced a proposal Tuesday to kick off negotiations with Albina Vision Trust, a nonprofit focused on revitalizing the neighborhood around the Moda Center. That neighborhood, called Albina, was once a major hub of the city’s Black community. The plan would give the organization the first chance to redevelop city-owned property adjacent to the arena.

District 2 City Councilors Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Sameer Kanal and Dan Ryan jointly introduced the proposal. The property lies within their district.

“This resolution represents a city commitment to restorative development and much needed neighborhood activation in the Rose Quarter,” said Kanal at a Tuesday meeting of the council’s City Life Committee. “It also represents meaningful community partnership to shape what we want our city to be.”

The city owns several parcels of land next to the Moda Center, a provision included in the existing lease agreement Portland has with the Trail Blazers, which expires in 2030.

The current negotiations over a longer-term lease with the Blazers are focused on the Moda Center itself and directly adjacent buildings. The team has expressed no interest in developing the other land to the direct north and south.

But Albina Vision Trust, which has a goal to revitalize 94 acres of land in Portland’s historic Albina neighborhood, is interested.

“Albina Vision Trust has come to the city with interest in these parcels and a vision to move forward development on them,” said Pirtle-Guiney.

The proposal directs the city’s administrative branch to partner with Albina Vision Trust to develop the land. That could involve helping the nonprofit secure private financing to build on the property. The city may remain a partial owner of the property under the final plan.

The property is currently occupied by two Moda Center parking garages north of the arena and a small green space directly south of the arena.

Albina Vision Trust leaders say that if the proposal is adopted, they would focus on using the property to “reconnect” the neighborhood into a cohesive district.

“We are confident that in partnership with the city we can come to terms that help us stop thinking about the district in fragmented terms,” said Winta Yohannes, executive director of Albina Vision Trust, “and instead take this from a place that people primarily drive through to where people drive home.”

If approved, it would just be the latest development project for Albina Vision Trust. In 2024, the nonprofit entered an agreement with Portland Public Schools to acquire the district’s 10.5-acre headquarters, a transition that is still underway. Last year, the nonprofit opened a new housing development in the neighborhood. The apartment building prioritizes housing people who were displaced and disenfranchised from the area through city development practices over the last half of the 20th century. And the organization is a top partner with 1803 Fund in its shared work to invest in developing areas of Albina, like the waterfront and 7 acres of industrial land dubbed “The Low End.” (1803 Fund CEO Rukaiyah Adams is on OPB’s Board of Directors. Adams also founded the Albina Vision Trust).

The discussion comes a day before city councilors are scheduled to vote on a plan to start the city’s long-term lease negotiations with the Blazers. The details behind that plan have divided councilors, who disagree on the funding plan. Ryan noted Tuesday that the Albina Vision Trust proposal struck a different tone among District 2 councilors.

“I appreciate that the three of us could get on the same page about something,” Ryan told his colleagues. “That doesn’t happen very often. But we do see the big picture here.”

The five-person City Life Committee unanimously advanced the plan to the full council, but not without pause. Councilor Angelita Morillo raised concerns that the proposal gave sole preference to one nonprofit, which could be seen as unfair. She and other councilors hinted at a larger debate over the plan when it heads to a full council vote later this summer.

“We can just have a harder discussion at full council,” she said, “because this committee is unwilling to do some of the hard work here.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/12/portland-councilors-land-plan-moda-center/