Imagine how rich the deed holders below the tram cable would be if the city first lifted their height restriction to 350, in the interest of uniform application of law, after which they were able to privately negotiate a sale of their hot air with the private half of the OHSU-affiliated interests. Gosh, that would be an unacceptable windfall, or prohibitively expensive proposition. The last holdout would hold all the cards, which would ironically be a real test of the notion of tradeable development rights, and existence of a semi-genuine private market.
See also
A proposal for TriMet to triple its money
Why the City of Portland can't restrict FAR transfers any more
TriMet offers a lucky developer a 99.998% discount on the Butler Block
And finally this bit on celestial bodies and a definitional problem:
Defining planets and affordable housing
UPDATE: I wonder when the Bond Cabal will assert that Hot Air property interests, where the "government" is the recognized "owner," are considered to be pledged as collateral?
Hot, or at least suspicious, air
Ron, I'd think your idea was funny -- the city could raise height limits and FAR and then sell off the value it's created -- if I didn't think that someone at City Hall would, with a straight unsmiling face, do exactly that someday.
Too late . . .
They already did by granting a special privilege on the height to the SoWhat developers. If one assumes compliance with the equal privileges and immunities clause then they would have granted the same height extension to the folks under the tram cable in one step and then contemporaneously condemned the same as an exercise of eminent domain power to transfer the creatively recognized property from one private party to another private party. It is just a blur, under the guise of the threat of law suits by clowns and falls under the heading of the trustworthiness of the City of Portland as a credible partner (partner in crime). Hot Air proved to have greater value than air rights.
UPDATE: The air rights under the tram cable must have been valued as a song and a dance, if one wants a some real life market comparables for appraisal purposes.