A key piece of public funding is coming into place for planned renovations to Portland’s Moda Center, home of the Trail Blazers, but there’s plenty more work to be done.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved late Thursday by a 4–1 vote a term sheet that would provide up to $101.6 million to help upgrade the 31-year-old, publicly owned building. The measure, an increase from $88 million originally proposed in the spring, is not a final funding package, and is instead a framework to begin formal discussions with the Blazers and city of Portland.
It is designed, however, to provide a definitive statement of intent in what has been a fractious issue for months involving the public officials and Blazers owner Tom Dundon.
“I want this step today to be seen by the NBA and its board of governors to know just how serious we are about keeping the Blazers here in Portland,” said county chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
She made a similar plea on Wednesday before the Portland city council as it heard hours of public testimony as it considers a separate, $120 million share of funding toward a Moda Center project costing nearly $600 million. The state legislature has already appropriated $365 million.
