The embattled “midtown” mixed-use development in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood is one step closer to becoming a reality.

A Portland official said the city is on track to sign over a 3.5-acre plot of city-owned land to midtown’s developer, Federated Cos., by the end of the month.

“We are working towards that goal of closing (the sale) on May 31,” said Greg Mitchell, the city’s economic development director.

On May 16, the Portland City Council approved three amendments to the purchase and sale agreement that the Florida-based developer said would allow it to move forward. The amendments:

• Eliminate the requirement that midtown participate in the city’s (now suspended) Park and Shop program.

• Eliminate the city’s right to buy back the property on which housing units will be built. Federated said it could not get financing for the project unless that requirement was eliminated. The city still would have the right to buy back the adjacent parking garage property.

• Require Federated Cos. to commit to building certain structures, including the parking garage.

As planned, midtown will include about 440 market-rate apartments, 90,000 square feet of retail space and an 840-space parking garage. Its estimated cost is $75 million, including nearly $12 million in subsidies, some of which will go toward street improvements.

If the deal closes this month, it will mark the end of a long process for Federated Cos. and the city that has been stalled multiple times by neighborhood opposition and disagreements over the details of the project.

It began back in June 2011, when the council voted unanimously to sell the land, on Somerset Street, to Federated Cos. for $2.3 million.

Since then, the project has been reduced in size from its original plans for up to 850 housing units that would have been built in phases over 10 years. In its current form, midtown is expected to take just three years to build.

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