Metro Employment Land Readiness Toolkit

Portland, Oregon Region | 2020

Cascadia Partners (CP) led a dynamic team to explore innovative new tools to unlock the economic potential of employment lands in the Portland region. The resulting Employment Land Site Readiness Toolkit is a resource for practitioners and policy makers filled with dozens of innovative new tools and specific ways to strengthen the tools we already have.

Using a pro forma analysis approach, Cascadia Partners tested the relative strengths of different tools to create actionable roadmaps for large employment sites in Wilsonville, Forest Grove, and Happy Valley. This project went beyond typical financial analysis by presenting models for addressing issues of equity in employment land planning and development. CP conducted nearly a dozen interviews with developers, designers, potential tech tenants and funding partners for the project. Cascadia also made recommendations on new zoning standards, capital investments, partnership structures and development incentives that would help the project succeed.