Portland’s parks department says it plans to use up to $8 million in fees paid by developers to turn a city-owned downtown parking lot into new public green space.

The move to redevelop the lot near the Pacific Northwest College of Art along Northwest Glisan Street would extend the North Park Blocks one square block toward the city’s vacant central post office site, which is also slated for redevelopment.

The money would come from system development charges and it would cover planning, design and construction costs, said Mark Ross, a parks and recreation spokesperson.

“We are optimistic that some funds may remain after the North Park Blocks project,” Ross said. Any remaining money, he said, would likely be put toward a new park planned to be built on the post office site.

The developments are part of the city’s Broadway Corridor redevelopment project, a plan to create a new neighborhood encompassing 34 acres in Northwest Portland between the Chinatown-Japantown historic district and the Pearl District featuring the 14-acre post office site as its anchor. The area also covers Union Station and the former Greyhound bus terminal.

The project is expected to include at least 720 affordable housing units, small business opportunities, new parks, public art and a new cycle track for biking. Affordable housing units are planned to be made available for families earning less than 60% of area median income, city officials said. For a family of four that would be $52,740, city records show.

The redevelopment is expected to help the city meet its projections of downtown-area growth of 21,500 new households and 42,500 new jobs by 2035. Redevelopment on the post office site alone is expected to provide homes for 1,800 to 2,400 new households, 4,000 to 8,800 new jobs and 4 million square feet of mixed-use development, according to Kimberly Branam, executive director of Prosper Portland, the city’s economic and urban development agency.

The Portland City Council approved the framework of the plan in 2015. Prosper Portland and the city’s housing bureau bought the post office site for about $88 million in 2016.

Redevelopment of that property is expected to be phased in over an estimated 15 to 20 years, according to city officials. Demolition and construction in the area is expected to begin in 2021.

Branam said city development partners will need to secure an estimated $1 billion in outside capital to deliver on the project over the next 15 to 20 years. Public funding could cover more than $200 million in costs, supported in part by river district tax increment financing.

The city’s housing bureau estimates an additional $308 million in public and private funding would be necessary to hit its goals of 720 affordable housing units in the area. The housing bureau would cover $96 million of the costs, and private capital would make up the rest.

“We envision Broadway Corridor as Portland’s next great place,” Branam told the city council Thursday during an update on the project. “A place that holds a significant role in the hearts of Portlanders alongside Pioneer Square or Peninsula Park, the Gateway Discovery Park or the Portland Mercado.”

She said several key steps still need to be ironed out. The Portland Design Commission is reviewing master plan for the post office property. City officials are also working out a community benefits agreement between Prosper Portland, lead developer Continuum Partners, and the Healthy Communities Coalition, which represents local racial- and gender-justice nonprofits, unions, and environmental, housing and transportation advocates.

The coalition has been pushing for the city to make sure the project meets the needs of Portland’s underserved and historically displaced populations.

Vivian Satterfield, who belongs to the coalition, noted to the council Thursday about the history of the Broadway Corridor, where indigenous, African- and Asian-American communities once lived or owned businesses.

The agreement would set out guidelines for the Broadway Corridor project to ensure construction and business equity, mitigate negative community impacts, provide oversight, plan for affordable housing and other benefits, city officials said.

Satterfield mentioned the agreement would also call for the coalition to sign away its right to protest the project.

“Healthy Communities Coalition will not sign an agreement that doesn’t deliver on the promise that this project will be racially just,” Satterfield said. “If the city and Prosper are truly for racial equity, we say prove it.”

City officials said the community benefits agreement could be reached in February.

-- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey

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