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Skanska USA might be the second private-sector tenant for the Oregon Sustainability Center, but no agreements have been made, according to a spokesman for the Portland Development Commission.

PDC Chairman Scott Andrews mentioned the possible deal Thursday morning during a roundtable meeting with sustainability advocates about America’s Great Outdoors Initiative.

PDC spokesman Shawn Uhlman said the 鈥渄ata鈥� Andrews was basing his comments on 鈥渨as a little overstated.鈥� Skanska referred all questions to PDC.

鈥淲e are talking to Skanska, but there’s been no commitment by them or by anyone else,鈥� Uhlman said. 鈥淲e’re talking to a number of firms, but it’s premature to say that there’s a commitment of any sort.鈥�

Skanska USA was selected as the general contractor for the project by developer Gerding Edlen in November 2010.

The Oregon Sustainability Center team has been actively seeking private-sector partners to open offices and pilot products in the prospective living building, and some have signed on: Umpqua Bank committed to opening a retail store on the ground floor, and Sanyo Solar of Oregon and local firm InSpec Group donated to the project and will manage the design and installation of the solar panels that will power and heat the building.

The ultra-green building project hit a roadblock in June when Republican leadership in the Oregon legislature refused to approve bond funding for that project until more questions were answered. Co-Speaker of the House Bruce Hanna, (R-Roseburg), expressed concerns about the proportion of private to public tenants in the building, as well as the high rents associated with the building’s high construction costs. Hanna challenged the team to find more private tenants to better their case for the project’s viability.

In the project’s plans before Hanna’s comments, most of the building was to be occupied by Portland State University, the Oregon University System, PDC and other city offices and a group of sustainability-focused non-profits, with 10,000 square feet of office space for private sector tenants. After the legislator’s comments, the project team has increased that goal to 23,400 square feet, Uhlman said.

The Oregon Sustainability Center was asked to return to the legislature in February and to present answers to a long list of questions about the project.