Airport Way

Infrastructure Improvements

Over the years, PDC has made significant investments in land throughout Airport Way to help leverage private investment, new jobs and recreational opportunities. Three examples are highlighted below:

Cascade Station Infrastructure

In 1997, the idea of building a new light rail extension to the Airport and, simultaneously, redeveloping a 120-acre tract of Port-owned land at the southwest corner of I-205 and NE Airport Way, began to take shape. The Bechtel Corporation proposed a package deal to the Port of Portland whereby Bechtel would design and construct the rail line and their work would partially be offset by the granting by the Port of full development rights to the 120-acre site. Bechtel, in partnership with the Trammell Crow Company,  formed the Cascade Station Development Company, to  develop the site with new retail and commercial uses that would be served by two new light rail stations running through the center of the project.

The plan quickly received support of the other funding partners, including TriMet, the City of Portland and PDC. A crucial element of the plan was finding a way to finance the  infrastructure that was necessary to support the new development as the site was entirely void of streets, utilities, storm drainage facilities and other amenities, not to mention a necessary new overpass to allow shoppers to get to the site from westbound Airport Way. PDC served as a financing vehicle for much of this $22.6 million project. The completed infrastructure improvements include a series of nine new park blocks (which also serve as the center’s stormwater detention system), all new streets, traffic controls and utilities, and the new Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens Light Rail Stations. The Cascade Station development was slated to create up to 8,000 new jobs and $31.1 million in city tax benefits over 20 years. In a complex transaction, PDC and the Port of Portland executed a Master Development Agreement, which granted certain development rights in Cascade Station to PDC. PDC in turn, assigned these development rights in return for Cascade/Bechtel’s assuming PDC’s obligations on $28 million in TriMet bonds. Under the terms of the existing Trust Agreement and Master Development Agreement, PDC was the holder of a $14 million junior obligation note from Cascade Station LLC/Bechtel.

But due to a combination of an economic downturn in 2000, the events of 9/11 and a restriction in the zoning that did not allow for a retail anchor, development stalled thereafter. However, in  June 2005, the PDC Board approved a Restructure Agreement which reassigned development rights to 36 acres of land at Cascade Station to PDC as full satisfaction of the $14 million junior obligation. With a change in the property’s zoning, IKEA soon announced its commitment to anchor a new shopping center, and by 2007 and 2008, the shopping center, two office buildings and three hotels were under various phases of development. Today, that initial investment in the infrastructure has leveraged an estimated $350 million in new, private investment providing needed jobs and property taxes to the taxing jurisdictions.  

Riverside Parkway Corporate Center (RPCC)

Airport Way has historically been successful in attracting a variety of different types of heavy and light industrial users. However, the 1990s saw a trend whereby some key sites were taken over by big-box retailers and others by large warehouse and distribution uses, both of these providing valuable services , but not the quality and density of employment that PDC sought to maximize. In response  to this “gap” in the market, PDC purchased 38.4 acres of industrial land at the URA’s eastern edge to leverage high density, quality job development. PDC then partnered with the Panattoni Development Company to design and construct the necessary $9 million in infrastructure improvements to the property including the NE Portal Way cul-de-sac, half street improvement on NE 185th, utilities, and landscaping. Since completing that work, PDC has sold more than thirty (30) acres of land for the development of three  new industrial buildings housing more than 500 new employees and paying new property taxes to the local taxing jurisdictions. More information about RPCC >

Columbia Slough Trailhead and Slough Trails

PDC has also invested significant tax increment resources in public amenities such as landscaping along Airport Way and stormwater detention facilities. But, perhaps more familiar to area residents, PDC improved a large portion of the 40-mile Columbia Slough trail at NE 169th Avenue, at Cascade Station and other sections throughout the district. At NE 169th, PDC constructed the $5 million Slough Trailhead, a canoe launch and picnic area to increase the recreational value along the area’s waterway.

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