December 08, 2010
The Portland Development Commission Board has approved, by a 4-0 vote, an expansion of the Enterprise Zone boundary to include an additional 3.66 acre property in the Airport Way Urban Renewal Area. The boundary expansion enables Portland-based Rentrak Corp. to participate in the Enterprise Zone tax abatement and E-Commerce tax credit programs. The E-Zone program is a State of Oregon economic development program that allows for property tax exemptions for up to five years. In exchange for receiving property tax exemption, participating firms must meet certain program requirements. The E-Commerce designation allows companies that have been accepted into the Portland E-Zone program and have filed for their E-Zone exemption to also receive a tax credit for E-Commerce capital expenditures such as server rooms, computer equipment, hardware, and software.
Rentrak, which measures and analyzes audience research data for entertainment industry customers, currently employs 230 people. The lease on the company’s office building is up on December 31, 2010 and company leaders had been considering an offer to relocate the headquarters to Washington State. The retention of a sizable software business in Portland advances both city and PDC goals to support the growing software cluster.
“This is an excellent example of the City, Business Oregon and the Port being nimble and working collaboratively to ensure a valuable local employer is able to remain in the city,” said Patrick Quinton, PDC’s Business and Industry team leader. “In addition, the E-Zone designation will allow Rentrak to hire additional workers in the future and make significant financial investments in their operations. This is a great win for the city and the state.”
