PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Three weeks after formally retracting an offer to buy the Portland Public Schools headquarters property, the group working to bring Major League Baseball may announce its stadium site this week.
The Portland Diamond Project may announce as soon as Thursday it has secured the land rights for an MLB ballpark, The Oregonian reports.
Two of the remaining possible sites for a new baseball stadium are in Northwest and Southwest Portland.
The Northwest location is Terminal 2 at the Port of Portland, which has the size, freeway access and is ripe for redevelopment. Public transportation currently is spotty, but the Portland Diamond Project officials previously said they would include both housing and commercial properties in any plan.
The Southwest location is at the Zidell Yards. In June, the owners of the 33-acre property on the South Waterfront and Prosper Portland axed their development agreement.
At that time Mayor Ted Wheeler told the Portland Tribune, “While the termination of the agreement is significant, it does not signal the end of development work in South Waterfront.”
The Oregonian reported people with the Portland Diamond Project met with the Zidell family but not much came from the meeting.
The 2 teams most often mentioned as possible MLB franchises for Portland are Oakland and Tampa Bay. However, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred previously said Portland is on the short list for an expansion team — something that may work in Portland’s favor with the group of investors currently involved in the project.
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.