Multnomah County is set to invest up to $101.6 million in the planned renovation of the Moda Center. The county’s Board of Commissioners on Thursday adopted a resolution with conditions for the investment, including a deal with the city of Portland and the state of Oregon. The approximately $600 million project is intended to keep the Portland Trail Blazers playing in the arena for the long term.

The resolution’s terms will serve as guideposts for the county and the city as they negotiate a formal agreement with one another as part of final negotiations with the Trail Blazers, a Multnomah County press release states. The city delivered its own draft term sheet to the Trail Blazers last month.

“I’ve heard and agree with the desire that we enter negotiations with strong terms that ensure that this deal is a benefit for our entire community,” Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said during the six-hour board meeting on Thursday.

The county’s terms include the Blazers making a commitment to stay in Portland for at least 20 years, a funding clawback allowing the county to recoup its investment if benchmarks are not met, a project labor agreement for construction, community and neighborhood commitments such as equitable treatment of the Portland Fire in the renovated facility and development rights for parcels adjacent to the Moda Center going to Albina Vision Trust, a revenue stream for the governments contributing to the renovation, protections from cost overruns tied to the renovation or initial ongoing capital costs, and more.

The county’s proposed commitment is for renovation and some initial ongoing capital expenditures. As amended, it removes any county contribution of Business Income Tax (BIT) revenues received from the recent sale of the Trail Blazers. Instead, the county will explore other alternatives such as Motor Vehicle Rental Tax revenue or possibly even increasing the tax rate.

“I appreciate this (option rather than) using the BIT,” Commissioner Meghan Moyer said.

The funding source has been the biggest issue for the commission, Pederson said, adding that she’d like to see more specifics in that regard.

Moyer and Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards expressed concern about the investment amount.

“I hope at the end of the day we end up at a low number,” Brim-Edwards said, adding that the resolution lists the investment as “up to” $101.6 million.

Moyer, who said the resolution was improved, ultimately voted no.

“I’m not going to be supportive of this package because it’s too much and I don’t want the county subsidizing a building we don’t own when we can’t afford to maintain the buildings we do own,” she said.

After the resolution passed, the county’s chief financial officer was directed to bring to the board funding proposals that prioritize using the Motor Vehicle Rental Tax, including the county’s 2.5 percent surcharge, and other tourism tax revenues.

The resolution also has three conditions. These include an updated economic analysis of market conditions, tax revenue projections and long-term costs and benefits; a complete workforce audit of direct and contracted employees for the Trail Blazers and Rip City Management; and a detailed renovation and maintenance plan covering scope, timeline, budget and risk management.

Negotiations between the county, the city and the state of Oregon for an intergovernmental agreement are expected to take place through October. The Multnomah County board is set to vote on the final agreement and related tax code amendments in December.

The Portland City Council will vote on its operator lease term sheet on Wednesday.

The county has hired a professional negotiator to act on its behalf and provide the board with regular updates and reports during the negotiation process.

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A Portland Trail Blazers executive said Thursday that the threat of litigation is casting a pall over negotiations with the city of Portland on paying for Moda Center renovations.

The Trail Blazers have attacked a provision in their current lease that would allow the city of Portland to sue the team for the cost of renovating the Moda Center if the team were to leave the arena when the lease ends in 2030.

Dewayne Hankins, the Trail Blazers president of business operations, decried the “threat of litigation hanging over these negotiations.”

The provision “has been wielded as a weapon, chilling our negotiations,” Hankins said.

Trail Blazers officials and city councilors held a work session Thursday that functioned as a temperature check on negotiations over arena upgrades. The two sides appeared far apart on any agreement to renovate the nearly 31-year-old Moda Center, which the city took ownership of in 2025.

They couldn’t even agree on whether the Trail Blazers were negotiating.

“It sounds like you have walked away from the table a bit,” Councilor Loretta Smith said.

Zandria Conyers, the Trail Blazers’ general counsel, disputed that characterization.

“We’re still at the table,” she said. “We have not walked away from the table.”

Conyers said the draft term sheet the city has circulated is a “nonstarter.”

“It is just not even a document we can respond to,” she added.

The Trail Blazers’ executives ceded little ground, instead taking a maximalist position in council chambers. Hankins reiterated that the team’s ownership group, led by Tom Dundon, would not agree to spend any money to renovate Moda Center.

“Going forward, in order for this deal to make economic sense, the contribution needs to come from the public sector,” Hankins said.

Hankins said the Trail Blazers should get credit for spending nearly $1 billion in the past 30 years on previous Moda Center upgrades and maintenance — even though that spending came under previous ownership.

Councilor Angelita Morillo, who has been a vocal critic of the Blazers’ recent statements, said the team had “moved the goalposts” after the city published a draft term sheet. She also dismissed the Blazers’ fear of litigation.

“They are only sued if they choose to move the team according to the bridge lease,” Morillo said.

A Trail Blazers representative said they had had discussions with potential architects and contractors to renovate the Moda Center. The team has identified $600 million in needed upgrades.

“We have architects and general contractors that we are excited to get to work with,” Hankins said. “We, in fact, had interviews with the city and state by our sides to have those, to pick those and select those, but until we have the funds to pay those architects, we don’t have plans to show you.”

The Oregon Legislature in its previous session passed a bill to supply $365 million in bond funding for Moda Center upgrades. The city has surveyed voters on potentially spending $120 million on the project. Multnomah County is also weighing its contribution.

The City Council is moving forward with public hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, with a vote on the term sheet to follow on Aug. 12. The council plans to vote on a lease agreement in December before bonds can be issued — if the city and the Trail Blazers can play ball.

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City councilors on Wednesday blasted what some described as a rushed process to approve funding for Moda Center renovations and a lease agreement with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Councilors are beginning to grapple with how the city of Portland should manage the Moda Center, what it will take to keep the NBA team in town and who will benefit.

On Wednesday, they hosted what is expected to be the first of several work sessions on the Moda Center’s future.

An unscientific city-commissioned survey found split opinion on whether Portland should invest potentially $120 million in modernizing the arena, which dates to 1995. The city took ownership of the arena in 2025.

“It’s clear to me that Portlanders are not speaking with one voice,” Councilor Candace Avalos said. “People are divided on whether the Moda Center should be renovated, or even more skeptical about committing significant public dollars. So to me what that means is we just have an obligation to slow down, ask good questions (and) make sure that the public understands the choices that are in front of us.”

The survey garnered more than 18,000 responses, with most respondents either strongly in favor or strongly opposed to Moda Center renovations.

Avalos said it’s important that Trail Blazers ownership chip in financially. She said she wants to see a “meaningful private capital contribution from ownership, consistent with many arena deals around the country. That is probably my number-one issue.”

Avalos added, “I’m going to have a hard time agreeing to give public money if I’m not seeing a private investment.”

Councilor Dan Ryan said the city should make the Moda Center into an asset it can be proud of, comparing it to the Portland International Airport, which has undergone a more than $2 billion renovation and expansion.

“When I play this forward, I can’t see one scenario where having … the Portland Trail Blazers leave our city and that’s going to be good for the long term for my hometown,” he said.

Looming in the background is uncertainty regarding Trail Blazers’ principal owner Tom Dundon’s intentions for the franchise. Dundon has few local ties and business interests in other states, including the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. Dundon and his ownership group purchased the Blazers last year from Paul Allen’s estate for more than $4 billion.

While city councilors laid out their priorities, Dundon spoke across town to business and political leaders, including Gov. Tina Kotek, at a Portland Metro Chamber event.

“The state is committed to a new Moda Center,” Kotek said, according to a KATU video of the event. “We can do this — should do it.”

Asked whether the Blazers’ ownership would contribute to Moda Center renovations, Dundon said the Blazers will chip in through taxes on players’ salaries as part of a bill approved in the Oregon Legislature‘s last session, as well as fees on tickets.

“It feels like we’re making a pretty big investment by staying here and paying these tax rates and agreeing to these fees for dollars that go back into the building,” Dundon said.

The Moda Center actually generates more revenue from concerts and other events than it does from the Trail Blazers, as live events took off after the pandemic, a city staffer said Wednesday.  The arena also hosts the fledgling Portland Fire, the WNBA’s newest franchise.

In the runup to Wednesday’s work session, Mayor Keith Wilson and left-leaning city councilors traded barbs.

“Good process means sitting down, figuring out the math and keeping the public informed and empowered every step of the way, not duking it out in the media or on Instagram,” Wilson said in a letter he released Tuesday.

Councilor Mitch Green responded on social media that he was “unsettled” by the mayor’s viewpoint. “Rather than acknowledge that there are very real concerns about how this process has unfolded, he chose instead to cast critique as short-sighted and opportunistic in an effort to deflect from the impressive lack of rigor to date on his part,” Green posted to BlueSky.

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Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on Monday said it’s up to city councilors and the committee governing the Portland Clean Energy Fund to award local funding to the Moda Center renovation.

Supporters of the approximately $600 million project have put together a workable budget, Wilson said. But the ball is in the council and PCEF committee’s court to green-light the city’s share of the renovation, he added.

“We’ve got placeholder items for the funding,” Wilson said. “We still have to go through our councilors. We still have to go through our PCEF committee. They are the final arbiters.”

Wilson’s comments came at the Moda Center on Monday to celebrate the 30-year-old arena hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament beginning Thursday. Wilson sought to project positivity regarding Portland’s capacity to host major events such as March Madness, but he gave no guarantees of city funding.

“We’ve worked hard to make sure that we’ve got available funding, to make sure we can pull this off, but in the end it’s our councilors and our committee members who are in charge of the Portland Clean Energy Fund that will make the final decision,” he said.

Wilson warned that the city risks becoming “flyover country” for big-time sports and concerts if the Moda Center is not renovated. The possibility that Tom Dundon‘s new ownership group and the NBA could move the Portland Trail Blazers to another city has loomed over the public funding debate.

Wilson said he spoke Friday with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, about Portland’s status as an NBA city and aspirations to host a future All-Star Game.

“He was positive,” Wilson said of Silver.

Wilson added that Portland must work to “make sure that this arena is a state-of-the-art home to not only our Blazers but to our (WNBA) Fire and all of the other events that use this home. So, it’s time to update the arena.”

The campaign to fund the Moda Center renovation got a major boost on March 6 with passage of legislation to use $350 million in state revenue backed by income taxes from players and others who work in the Rose Quarter. The speed of the funding legislation was “amazing,” Wilson said.

But the arena project still needs millions of dollars in funding from city and county sources, and backers are marshaling support.

“We’re building a coalition to make sure the Blazers are part of our fabric for years to come,” Wilson said.

Unlike stadiums at the center of debates in some cities, the Moda Center is publicly owned. The city of Portland took ownership of the arena from the Paul Allen estate in 2024.

Jim Etzel, CEO of Sport Oregon, said a major renovation of the arena will ensure that the 2030 NCAA Women’s Final Four isn’t the last major college tournament the Moda Center hosts.

“If it isn’t renovated, we’re off the map,” he said. “Infrastructure wins.”

Organized labor has also supported the Moda Center project push.

“It’s an opportunity for not only creating jobs, but making sure no jobs are lost,” said Robert Camarillo, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council. “The trades are in a bit of a recession right now.

“We’re excited to get some people to work on that renovation when it happens,” he added.

Project supporters hope to see construction begin in 2027 and finish by the end of 2029.

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Architectural renderings of a proposed renovation of the Moda Center show sweeping concourses with views of the basketball court and improved lighting, but whether public officials can muster support for the $600 million price tag remains to be seen.

They’re certainly trying. State and local officials mounted a concerted campaign this week to press the case for funding upgrades for the arena, which the city of Portland acquired in 2024 and leased back to Rip City Management, the management company of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Without the renovation, local leaders fear the Trail Blazers will move to another city.

“Renovating the Moda Center isn’t about one building — it’s about Oregon’s future,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in legislative testimony on Wednesday. “This project strengthens our economy, supports communities across the state and ensures Oregon remains competitive for major events and investment. With state partnership, it becomes a generational investment in jobs, culture and long-term economic relevance.”

Oregon lawmakers hope to raise a large chunk of the necessary amount with a tax on players and other employees around the Moda Center. A bill to create the fund and direct tax revenues to it was introduced in the state Senate on Monday. The legislation, Senate Bill 1501, would also allow the state’s Department of Administrative Services to take ownership in partnership with the city of Portland.

The city and Multnomah County are also discussing potential funding sources to remake the Moda Center. Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson called the Moda Center “a crucial economic engine for our state” in testimony given Wednesday. Gov. Tina Kotek also voiced support.

Despite growing criticism in some circles of taxpayer subsidies for sports teams, business leaders are largely united behind efforts to retain the Trail Blazers.

“It’s hard to understate the importance of the Trail Blazers to our community, especially at a time like this,” said Greg Goodman, co-president of Downtown Development Group, a major Portland real estate investment firm.

Portland can’t afford to lose the Blazers when the city’s economic recovery remains fragile, he said.

“Portland’s getting better, but we’ve obviously had some setbacks,” he said. “And losing the Blazers would be devastating to the pride of the community.”

Fears the Blazers could move have risen as Paul Allen’s estate, controlled by Jody Allen, prepares to relinquish ownership of the team to an investment group led by Tom Dundon, a Dallas businessman with few apparent ties to Oregon.

Sports team owners have not been shy about moving operations in search of better stadium deals. Major League Baseball‘s Athletics are in the process of moving from Sacramento to Las Vegas after jilting its longtime hometown of Oakland, California. The NFL‘s Raiders moved from Oakland to Los Angeles to Oakland to Las Vegas. Seattle still bears psychological wounds from the SuperSonics leaving for Oklahoma City. And even the Chicago Bears, one of the NFL’s oldest franchises, is considering leaving the city — the state of Iowa is dangling incentives in a long-shot bid for the team.

The Moda Center was completed in 1995 and originally named the Rose Garden. The arena supplanted Veterans Memorial Coliseum as the city’s premier sports and concert venue.

In addition to the Blazers, the Portland Fire will soon call Moda Center home as its inaugural WNBA season begins in May. The arena also hosts major concerts, including the Wu-Tang Clan, Cardi B and Pearl Jam in recent years. However, some artists such as Taylor Swift and Coldplay have bypassed Portland in favor of making tour stops in Seattle.

Officials hope the renovation can be completed by the time Moda Center hosts the 2030 NCAA Women’s Final Four. The arena generates an estimated $670 million in annual economic impact and nearly 4,500 jobs, according to a joint statement from state and local leaders.

It wasn’t immediately clear which architecture firm is designing the renovation. GBD Architects has designed past Moda Center upgrades, including new suites, concession areas and retail and concourse spaces. But a spokeswoman for the firm said GBD is not involved this time.

The renovation push comes as the 1803 Fund and Albina Vision Trust work to remake the neighborhood around the Moda Center. In December, the fund announced it had purchased two groups of properties, including grain silos between the arena and the Willamette River, for $70 million.

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A group of business, civic and philanthropic leaders are proposing a long-term plan to remake the Rose Quarter by reintroducing housing, a street grid and open space into the Northeast Portland entertainment district.

Members of an informal group are pushing what they call the “Albina Vision.” The group set out to reimagine the Rose Quarter, assuming only that the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum would remain as anchors in the area. Everything else was subject to possible changes.

The group is presenting an early-stage conceptual plan to public officials, business leaders, community groups and media organizations. It imagines a sweeping future vision for the Rose Quarter that better integrates the 90-acre area into surrounding neighborhoods.

Urbanists have long complained that the Rose Quarter functions as an island that’s largely removed from the rest of Portland. On nights when there are no events such as a Portland Trail Blazers or Winterhawks game, or a big-ticket concert, the area can be empty and lifeless.

“It’s severed from the communities around it by infrastructure, and it lacks a 24-hour population,” said Tom Cody, a developer who is part of the Albina Vision group. “There are no people there. It’s basically designed to accept and release large numbers of people for events.”

The capacity for development is potentially among the largest in the Portland-metro area.

“There’s opportunity for 7 million square feet – or more – of new development,” said Hennebery Eddy Architects President Tim Eddy, who is involved in the Albina Vision.

In part, the Albina Vision seeks to mitigate past wrongs. The area now home to the Rose Quarter was once part of Albina, a largely black neighborhood. Several blocks were razed as part of city-led urban renewal efforts. Homes, businesses and churches were destroyed.

The Rose Quarter also interrupted East Portland’s street grid. The Albina Vision plans to restore some – but not all – of the grid.

“That grid was previously houses, it was apartment buildings, it was churches, it was commercial space,” Eddy said. “It was a full working, living neighborhood community.”

Apartments are a key piece of the Albina Vision. At present, there’s only one low-income building on the northern periphery of the Rose Quarter.

“So one of the cornerstones of the plan is we bring housing – a lot of housing – and people on the full income spectrum deep into the district, and that will bring a heartbeat to a place that was separated from its people,” Cody said.

The Albina Vision group was started by Rukaiyah Adams, chief investment officer of Meyer Memorial Trust and chairwoman of the Oregon Investment Council, and Jim Francesconi, vice president of public policy at Moda Health, and now includes about a dozen community leaders. Cody and Eddy quickly came on board, as did Zari Santner, a former director of Portland Parks and Recreation. Others include Gregg Kantor, the retired chief executive of NW Natural, and Michael Alexander, retired chief executive of the Urban League of Portland.

“We agreed that there needed to be a comprehensive look at development opportunities in that area,” Santner said.

The group hopes to put an overall plan in place before any large-scale development – such as a corporate campus – comes to the Rose Quarter.

It remains to be seen whether the group can persuade the major players, including city commissioners, the Portland Trail Blazers, Moda Health and others, to buy into their vision. But members said the mayor’s office and the Trail Blazers had given their blessing to investigate a large-scale vision for the Rose Quarter.

Much of the land in the area is owned either by the city of Portland or Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said he’s had conversations with the Albina Vision group.

“I like a lot of elements of that package, including taking advantage of a reconnection in our grid system, and a focus on housing and a focus on rebuilding a community that was really torn asunder through urban development,” he said.

But, Wheeler added, the city is a long way from any formal plans to redevelop the Rose Quarter.

“At this point, we’re not really settling on – we’re way premature to say we’ve settled on any concept or idea around this development site,” he said. “There’s a lot of pre-work that still needs to happen. But I know those players. I have confidence in their vision. I support the premise behind their vision, and I’m glad that they’re engaging this conversation with us and the community at large.”

Trail Blazers spokesman Michael Lewellen said the organization had no comment on the Albina Vision.

“There’s nothing to say at this point,” he said.

Vulcan Inc. did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Albina Vision members are investigating possible governance structures to ensure their plan influences future development there. They’re looking to form a nonprofit governance group modeled after those in other cities, such as New York’s Battery Park City Authority, to oversee and guide development in the district.

The Albina Vision takes more ambitious steps than the city’s North/Northeast Quadrant Plan, which was a precursor to the city’s comprehensive plan that will take effect Jan. 1, 2018.

The Albina Vision envisions bulldozing existing parking garages and then constructing parking underground. The group is also looking into building large “lids” or “caps” – structures that would extend over Interstate Avenue and rail lines between Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Willamette River. The caps would be covered in park-like open space, reaching the river.

“Nobody had a plan,” Eddy said. “So we created a plan.”

Ethan Seltzer, Portland State University professor emeritus of urban studies and planning, raised questions as to whether undergoing an expensive remake of the Rose Quarter should be a priority for Portland.

“If you really wanted to draw African-American families back into north-northeast Portland, what could you do with that money?” he said, suggesting new schools as one option.

Urban design isn’t the solution to every problem, Seltzer said.

“It all sounds great, but I’d be a little careful of the old saw: If your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails,” he said. “Are we buying into something before there’s been an adequate explanation of the options?”

Reaction to the Albina Vision has been overwhelmingly positive, Santner said.

“We are very, very encouraged by the reception this is getting from various groups,” she said. “People like the idea.”

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