Airport Way
Created in 1986, the Airport Way Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District transformed underutilized property into a manufacturing, retail, and transportation corridor, including Cascade Station and the TriMet Red Line. This district is closed.
Date Created
May 1986
District Status
Closed
By the Numbers
Background
Formed in 1986, the Airport Way TIF District was unique in its proximity to major transportation infrastructure and its absence of a substantial housing element. As such, the District’s primary goal was to facilitate development to create a major eastside employment center.
Originally, at 2,780 acres, the Airport Way TIF District was the city’s second largest tax increment finance district. The District’s boundary, from NE 82nd Avenue, adjacent to the Portland International Airport, to the Portland city limits at NE 185th and Marine Drive, remained unchanged from its inception until 2010 when the Portland City Council passed the Tenth Amendment to the Plan which removed 872 acres and reduced the District’s size to 1,841 acres, so as to create additional capacity to expand an existing or create a TIF district in the city. In 2015, Portland City Council passed a package of amendments which included the reduction of the Airport Way District acreage to 971.
Airport Way’s maximum indebtedness of $73 million has been reached and there is no capacity to issue additional debt. Project activities now must all be funded with land sale proceeds: in other words, the money that Prosper Portland receives from the sale or lease of property that it had acquired over the years. Currently, Prosper Portland still has 23 acres of vacant land that it is marketing for new development.
Objectives
The District Plan and the Development Plan identified several objectives:
- Facilitate development in the district that generates significant new employment opportunities for new and existing businesses
- Support development of public infrastructure, transit, and to protect the district’s natural resources
- Encourage employers to provide quality job opportunities to residents of economically disadvantaged communities
- Utilize the land near Portland International Airport for a major mixed-use development, consisting of retail, office and hotels, capitalizing on the MAX Light Rail line.
To accomplish these goals and objectives, Prosper Portland has provided financial incentives, direct infrastructure investment, development and economic development assistance.
