The Portland Development Commission will take

to get The Nines’ $18.3 million in outstanding debt off the books.

The luxury hotel opened in 2009 after an extensive renovation of the Meier & Frank block in downtown Portland, funded in part with $16.9 million in loans from the PDC. The economy promptly turned south, and the commission agreed to restructure the loans, letting the hotel pay as its cash flow allowed. The Nines hasn’t made regular payments since.

In taking the deal, the agency will write off the $6.7 million, but it will get a $2 million premium over selling the debt on the open market, according to an appraisal by commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

PDC official acknowledged the loan was a risky one, but said it was worth the return in the form of bringing vitality to downtown Portland’s retail district.

“We easily would have made a $5- or $6- or $7 million grant” toward the project, said PDC board chairman Scott Andrews.

The PDC’s position is complicated by its low priority for repayment among creditors. A 2012 appraisal valued the hotel at $100 million, but the $98 million in more senior debt could prevent the PDC from getting anything in a foreclosure.

The restructuring comes as part of a change in the hotel’s ownership structure. PDC officials say a publicly traded entity will assume control of the hotel as its current owner, Sage Hospitality, writes off its ownership stake in exchange for a 10-year contract to continue managing the 5-star hotel.

The entity that would assume control of the hotel hasn’t been identified.

The $11.5 million the PDC will get for the loans will be reinvested in Old Town Chinatown, part of the River District urban renewal area.