The picture--envision the steel-and-glass box adjacent the Rose Garden Arena filled with a Target, a Home Depot and lots of parking, all stacked on different levels--is the private use alternative to three public uses proposed for the 43-year-old building. The $90 million is what Oregon Arena Corp says the city would reap over 30 years from taxes and rent if it signs off on the $40-million project. OAC presented the idea to the City Council this week with would-be development partner Gerding/Edlen Development Co., mastermind of the successful Brewery Blocks Redevelopment in Northwest Portland. Also designed into the project are an adjacent, 15,000-sf public learning center and a 250-seat amphitheater that the duo would develop with a portion of that $90 million.

According to the 1992 development agreement that created the Rose Quarter as it stands today, Oregon Arena Corp. has the right of first refusal to develop all of the city-owned property within the 37-acre Rose Quarter. Those rights include: the space above the city's two parking garages on the north side of Memorial Coliseum; a half-acre parcel west of the garage structures; another half-acre parcel on the south side of the Coliseum; and the Coliseum itself. Allen also owns the former Red Lion Coliseum Hotel property on the nearby Willamette riverfront; the hotel has been demolished en route to redevelopment.

The catch is that Oregon Arena Corp.'s development rights for Memorial Coliseum only kick in if the city decides to make all or part of the facility available for private use. Until then, Oregon Arena Corp. is obligated to operate Memorial Coliseum and cover operating losses, which have totaled about $200,000 a year for the past four years as some second-tier indoors sports franchises have failed and stopped renting the facility, according to David Logsdon, the city's spectator facilities manager.