News Look for some unhappy Portland Democrats after today's announcement that PGE Park will be renamed Jeld-Wen Field when the Timbers begin play in Major League Soccer.Not because there's any great sentiment for PGE, the state's largest utility and a subsidiary of Enron when it hung its name on the old Civic Stadium a decade ago.But rather because of the political activities of Jeld-Wen's founder, the ...   More

News As the Portland Timbers' April 14 home opener approaches, City of Portland records show the renovation of PGE Park from a multi-purpose stadium to a Major League Soccer facility is on time but about $5 million over the project's $31 million budget. (The original development agreement calls for the city to contribute $11.9 million to the project and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson to contribute $19.3 ...   More

News With the Portland Timbers' first Major League Soccer home game approaching on April 14, the Northwest District Association is ready to send the city some recommendations for parking around PGE Park. Stadium neighbors have worried about the impact of large crowds in the debut MLS season.And neighborhood association president Ron Walters says the NWDA is now suggesting the city set one 90-minute parking ...   More

News The Portland Timbers' first home game in a PGE Park revamped for the team's Major League Soccer debut season is less than three months away. And the Timbers are expecting a big crowd that night (April 14) and for the rest of their home games. But that all raises the question for stadium neighbors about where those many thousands of fans will park. This morning, the Northwest District Association ...   More

News Merritt Paulson, owner of the Portland Beavers and Timbers, wants the City of Portland to spend $85 million to renovate PGE Park for Major League Soccer and to build his Beavers a new ballpark. That's a pretty big ask in the best of times, which these are not. And Paulson, the son of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is anything but another thinly-financed wannabe looking to leverage ...   More

News Some interesting names on the task force Mayor-elect Sam Adams has put together to evaluate the merits of Merritt Paulson's proposal to renovate PGE Park for a Major League Soccer franchise and build a new stadium somewhere else in town for the baseball Beavers. One sign that Adams is taking Paulson's proposal seriously: the counsel to the committee is heavyweight lawyer Steve Janik, who worked ...   More

News Portland Beavers and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson's proposal to bring Major League Soccer to Portland —while renovating PGE Park and building a new baseball stadium somewhere in town for the Beavers— got ink in the Manchester (U.K.) Guardian this week. One of the authors, Jules Boykoff, played collegiate soccer for the University of Portland and later played professionally. He's ...   More

News Portland's tentative deal with Merritt Paulson to bring Major League Soccer to PGE Park, a deal City Council approved July 23, expires today. The deadline —which had moved from Sept. 1 initially to Oct. 1— to negotiate all the details of the final financial agreement has now been extended until December or January, when construction was to begin on the renovation project, according ...   More

News A preliminary design for a remodeled PGE Park went before the City of Portland's Design Commission on Sept. 17, even as financial negotiations between Portland and Merritt Paulson stalled. That design (pictured above) calls for a Providence Health & Services rehabilitation center at the stadium's southeast corner on Southwest 18th Avenue. The Design Commission expects new drawings Nov. ...   More

News Portland City Council tomorrow morning will consider whether to change the zoning code to allow limited office space at PGE Park. The proposed change is part of an effort to bring a sports medicine clinic, sponsored by Providence Health & Services, to the stadium to support Merritt Paulson's new Major League Soccer team when it begins play in 2011. Here's the ordinance [PDF]. Updated on ...   More