Quote:
Originally Posted by maccoinnich
I can't link directly, but if you go to Portland Maps aerial imagery zoom in on the Moda center and turn back to 1990, you can see that most of the land the Moda center was built on was surface parking lots for VMC that were owned by the city. Before it was realigned, N Williams used to run directly south from Ramsay Way. The parcel now being sold to the city looks to have been a warehouse, east of the old N Williams alignment.
Placing it all in public ownership allows for a property tax exemption. |
Seems like other teams would do the same thing but my understanding is most pro sports stadiums/arenas are privately owned. It's the sweet spot, publicly financed, privately owned, owner reaps benefits for all events (not just their team; concerts, etc). And as for tax exempt, lots of owners don't even pay that. I recall stories that the Eagles in Philly owed the city tens of millions of back property taxes but they never collect because the owner would just threaten to leave town.
So then I guess, why here? Why now? If Allen sells Moda, they get nothing for non-Blazers activities, correct? Doesn't seems to make sense to save a little property tax money, if they even pay it. Especially when any renovation costs could likely be extorted from the public.
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