FILE - The Moda Center, left, in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 4, 2025. Portland city leaders are negotiating with the Portland Trail Blazers over possible renovations to the arena, as leaders consider awarding development rights to the nonprofit Albina Vision Trust.
Brooke Herbert / OPB
A Portland nonprofit focused on restoring the city’s historically Black neighborhood wants City Council to grant it the right to develop property next to the Moda Center.
Albina Vision Trust is interested despite the uncertainty swirling around the arena that houses Portland’s NBA and WNBA teams. The proposal before city council would start negotiations with the group to redevelop city-owned property near the arena.
The Moda Center is owned by the city, but the Trail Blazers and its event management arm, Rip City Management, are the anchor tenants. The team’s new owner Tom Dundon is seeking upwards of $600 million in taxpayer money for renovations and upgrades to the arena, with an unspoken threat that Dundon could try to move the team to another city if negotiations fall short of his expectations.
Portland’s Rose Quarter district, including the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum, features two of the state’s most recognizable buildings, and is part of the historic Lower Albina District of inner North Portland.
In the middle of last century the neighborhood was a bustling business hub for Portland’s Black community. However, the city used racist urban renewal policies to displace Black homes and business owners to build Memorial Coliseum, as well as to construct Interstate 5 and expand Legacy Emanuel hospital.
“Lower Albina was once the heart of Portland’s Black community, and that has to be said on the record because that is the subtext that is encompassing this conversation,” District 1 councilor Candace Avalos said at an August meeting when the proposals passed out of committee.
Avalos said government-led development decisions opened the door to the destruction of Black wealth in the city.
“AVT has spent years developing a restorative vision for Lower Albina,” Avalos said, “grounded in repairing those historic harms and creating a new model of what development can look like.”
The discussion comes shortly after the City Council agreed to a term sheet with the Trail Blazers about the Moda Center. It’s a precursor to city councilors voting on $120 million for arena renovations. The negotiations have been contentious as some councilors — and many Oregonians — wonder why the cash-strapped city, rather than the billionaire owner of the Blazers, is being asked to fund the renovations.
For his part, Dundon has said publicly that the ownership group he put together is already investing more than $4 billion by purchasing the NBA team. So far, Dundon has not shown interest in purchasing or developing the land adjacent to the arena.
Meanwhile, Albina Vision Trust and its partner organizations already have multiple projects underway in the area. The group is taking over ownership of the former Portland Public Schools headquarters. Additionally, the group has already opened a housing development in the area. The group is a major partner of 1803 Fund, which is working to redevelop the waterfront neighborhood near the Moda Center.
Councilors have signaled initial support for the proposal to designate Albina Vision Trust as a development partner. However, some councilors have signaled they want to see a more formal bidding process.
A final vote is expected later in the month.
This story will be updated.
