What is E-Zone?
The Portland Enterprise Zone exists primarily to incentivize firms by offering local property tax exemptions to invest in new construction and personal property to create quality jobs. The E-Zone geography has evolved over time, most recently with the 2023 addition of areas of downtown Portland, to encourage firms to invest in growth in core business districts and revitalize the Central City.
About the Program
The Portland Enterprise Zone exists primarily to incentivize firms by offering local property tax exemptions to invest in new construction and personal property to create quality jobs. The E-Zone geography has evolved over time, most recently with the 2023 addition of areas of downtown Portland, to encourage firms to invest in growth in core business districts and revitalize the Central City.
The E-Zone program allows qualified firms that will be making a substantial new capital investment a waiver of 100 percent of the amount of real property taxes attributable to the new investment for a five-year period after completion. Land or existing machinery or equipment is not tax exempt.
The tax liability for a new capital investment is around 1.5 percent of the value of that investment. So, a $20 million investment would typically produce a tax liability of around $300,000 a year. Once the five-year period is over, the improvements, along with the rest of the property, are fully taxed for the life of the improvements. After five years, the entire asset enters the tax rolls. Hence the short-term waiver of local taxes results in a long-term return to the local taxing jurisdictions.
Since 1986, more than 100 companies have participated in the Portland E-Zone program, and approximately 45 projects are active. Since 2010, the City’s E-Zone program has leveraged nearly $2 billion in private investments which have created and retained between five and ten thousand full-time, quality jobs.
Companies have invested anywhere from $100,000 to $200 million in facilities, equipment, and machinery as part of their E-Zone qualified investments. These firms could invest anywhere in the world. Their local investment demonstrates the power of the E-Zone program as the City’s best economic development tool for attracting industrial sector businesses to establish and grow in Portland.
In addition to the private investment and job creation requirements, the public benefits derived from the E-Zone program include:
- increased business opportunities for companies within the E-Zone through the program’s local procurement requirement;
- enhanced tax base in the E-Zone to the benefit of all taxing jurisdictions; and
- support for local job training and financial assistance to small businesses in the area through payment of 15 percent of the value of the tax abatement into the Business Development and Workforce Training Fund.
In 2017, the program embedded public benefit agreements in the requirements, which represented a shift from transactional to more relationship-focused economic development and gained attention among economic development practitioners. The changes require locally rooted partnerships and organized stakeholders that deliver shared value to businesses, workers, and communities.
Prosper Portland’s engagement with dozens of non-profits related to entrepreneurship, workforce development, education, and social justice and community building allows businesses to quickly find the right partnerships to succeed in meeting public benefits requirements.
How to apply
Step 1: Find out if your company is in the E-Zone
- View the E-Zone map.
- Search for your property address to determine if it is within one of the shaded E-Zone areas.
Step 2:
Contact Faythe Aiken via e-mail (aikenf@prosperportland.us) or 503-823-4734 to begin the application process, get estimates, and learn about compliance.
Please do not apply without initiating the intake process with the E-Zone Program Coordinator.
Pending Contracts
There are no pending contracts at this time.
