[MarkDaMan]

A $7 million renovation project planned in the St. Johns neighborhood will convert John's Tavern into a three-story hotel. (Rendering courtesy of Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects)


Hotel planned for St. Johns neighborhood
POSTED: Monday, July 2, 2012 at 03:32 PM PT
BY: Reed Jackson Daily Journal of Commerce

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/07/02...-neighborhood/

The St. Johns neighborhood’s isolated location gives it the feel of a small town – one without certain amenities.

One is lodging; the nearest hotel is miles away. But a $7 million project will soon change that. John’s Tavern, on North Lombard Street, will be converted into a hotel, and that could spark more projects, according to Risa Davis, a St. Johns resident who is spearheading the building’s transformation with her husband, Bret.

“If there is something great going on right in the center of downtown, it’s going to bloom out,” she said. “This is a total community project.”

Risa Davis, who works in real estate and served on the Architectural Heritage Center’s board for five years, and Bret have a written agreement to purchase the 108-year-old property and are hoping to return it to its former prestige. The building once was a three-story community landmark called the Central Hotel.

But Davis said that for some unknown reason, two floors were removed in 1939. And the property has since frustrated neighborhood residents. In fact, last year police were called to John’s Tavern more than any other bar in Portland, according to Davis.

A renovation of the property, which sits next to St. Johns Plaza, will make the neighborhood much safer, said Jeff Bissonnette, president of the St. Johns Main Street Coalition.

“St. Johns has always struggled with a reputation that it might have some troubled spots,” he said. “Having a hotel there will change the dynamic around the plaza and make it a place that people really feel is accessible 24/7.”

The building will regain two floors and be renamed the Central Hotel. A restaurant and a lobby will replace the tavern on the bottom floor; a total of 36 rooms will fill the upper two floors.

Pacific Crest Construction, the company behind many McMenamins projects, will build a dining area on the roof, where visitors will be able to view the Willamette River and the St. Johns Bridge.

Development in the area has been steady, according to Bissonnette, since the Portland Development Commission launched its Main Street Program there in 2009 to revitalize the city’s old commercial districts.

However, even though businesses have slowly entered the neighborhood, most are small. And many developers continue to question the benefits of developing property in St. Johns, Bissonnette said. However, the Central Hotel will be the biggest project in the area in years; it could help change developers’ perceptions, he added.

“It becomes a landmark in that it’s definitely a significant and ambitious project that shows that St. Johns is worth the investment,” Bissonnette said. “Lots of potential investors looking at St. Johns just need a landmark to say, ‘Yep, other people are, so I will too.’ ”

As it stands now, the property is considered an eyesore by much of the community. Even simply replacing the building’s two outer facades – the project’s first phase – could help spur development in the area, Risa Davis said.

“It’s like when a guy is always complaining to his wife because she never cleans the house, so he decides to bring home a bouquet of flowers,” she said. “She puts the bouquet on the table and notices the clutter on the table, so she cleans it. Then she notices the clutter on the ground around the table and cleans that.”

Both Davis and Bissonnette said they want the project developed in a way that suits the neighborhood. In other words, they do not want the hotel to look like a condo building in the Pearl District or a loft complex on North Mississippi Avenue. Rather, they want the hotel, as well as any other future development nearby, to match the historic, rustic appearance of other buildings in St. Johns.

“St. Johns has a history of being a strong community and one that is economically diverse,” Bissonnette said. “We’re trying to make sure that history is honored with any kind of economic development going on.”

Davis expects construction to start sometime late this year or early 2013 and finish in spring 2014. The project was designed by Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects.