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The Portland City Council unanimously approved a resolution this week directing the city to begin negotiations with Albina Vision Trust for the development of city-owned property next to Moda Center.
The ordinance brings Albina Vision Trust, a Black-led community redevelopment nonprofit, one step closer to achieving its vision of reviving the neighborhood known as Lower Albina, once a bustling Black neighborhood that was ravaged by the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s and subsequent decades of urban renewal by local government agencies that condemned homes and displaced Black families and Black-owned businesses alike.
Albina Vision Trust’s master plan seeks to build housing, commercial storefronts, public plazas and riverfront access across a 94-acre swath of Lower Albina. In 2025, the nonprofit celebrated the opening of its first big development project, the 94-unit affordable housing project Albina One.
Winta Yohannes, executive director of Albina Vision Trust, testified in front of the City Council ahead of its Thursday vote. She was joined by Black business owners, community leaders and developers who urged the council to pass the ordinance.
“In Portland, we’re often forced between a false choice. We either talk about equity endlessly with no action, or we’re asked to rebrand crumbs as fortunes,” Yohannes said. “We can reject both. The partners in here today are here to affirm that all of us are deeply invested in this collective effort to rebuild Albina.”
JT Flowers, senior adviser for Albina Vision Trust, implored councilors to take the first step in righting the wrongs of their predecessors decades ago.
“It was folks who sat in these very seats who made the decision to carve up our neighborhood and parcel it off to the highest bidder,” Flowers said. “Freedom looks like many things. But today it manifest itself simply: as a decision sitting on your desks while a village of your neighbors look on to see how this group 12 citizens will choose to etch your names into the history books.”
The council voted 12–0 to approve the ordinance.
Albina Vision Trust will now present a development plan to the city for city-owned property that currently consists of two parking lots.
Of course, AVT’s vision for the property is in many ways linked to the future of Moda Center. High-stakes negotiations between city officials and the Trail Blazers’ new ownership have begun as Tom Dundon, the Texas billionaire who nows owns the team, seeks nearly $600 million in public funding for an arena renovation.
