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Bob Emrick and his partners want to restore some semblance of KAOS to downtown McMinnville.

Few people in the city of 32,000 west of Salem can even remember when KAOS reigned there. Even Emrick, who has lived in the area a long time, had to do research well beyond Google.

He eventually discovered that KAOS was a radio station that operated downtown in the 1960s. Now Emrick and fellow developers Dustin Wyant and Michael Hanks are planning to build an approximately 20,000-square-foot restaurant, bar and hotel complex in McMinnville – all in the name of KAOS.

It is the perfect name for a business, according to Emrick. KAOS evokes the community’s past, he said, but also reflects the development’s multiple uses.

“It allows us to use it any way we want,” Emrick said. “The most important thing, in terms of marketing, is that it makes people ask questions. It’s intriguing.”

Emrick predicted that ground will be broken in the fall, with construction wrapping up in September 2014. The building will be hard to miss, said Liz Heller, marketing director for KAOS Development LLC.

It will be located at Northeast Third and Galloway streets, Heller said – and occupy most of the block. It will be roughly two blocks east of McMenamins’ Hotel Oregon, at Third and Evans streets.

“It won’t be any kind of competition for us,” Emrick said. “Trust me.”

Formally dubbed the KAOS Wine Village, the development will include:

• A ground-floor, bistro-style restaurant with seating for at least 60 people

• A rooftop bar and grill with seating for 75 to 150 people

• A hotel with 11 rooms and suites

• Meeting space for events and receptions

• Space for 12 Oregon vineyards to showcase their wines and offer tastings

• An outdoor dining plaza on Third Street.

Developers declined to put a price on the project, but Bob Poskin, McMinnville’s building official, said the building permit cost filed with the city is $2.8 million.

The official website for the development says it will be 21,000 square feet. However, Poskin said city documents put it at 18,383 square feet.

Whatever the size, Heller said it will be one of the most significant buildings constructed in downtown McMinnville in the past 100 years. Poskin said he is not entirely sure about that, noting that both Hotel Oregon and the Oregon Mutual building were built in that time.

“It may not be the first major building built downtown in the past 100 years, because we’ve certainly had other buildings in the community, but it still is a sizable development,” Poskin said of the KAOS project.

So far, he added, the project is clearing all of the city’s official hurdles. All necessary building permits have been filed, and city officials are now waiting on an architectural review.

“As far as I know, building-wise, there are no issues to go through,” Community Development Director Doug Montgomery said.

The project is – literally – plowing ahead. Crews are demolishing a former gas station, according to Heller, and then some details need to be worked out.

“They’re still sort of fine-tuning things,” she said.

Heller said she thinks the building being torn down dates to 1920 and was a dry cleaning business and glass shop in previous incarnations.

Winsome Construction of McMinnville is the builder, with Nathan Cooprider serving as the architect.

Cooprider said he plans to use authentic local materials like rustic, golden brick and dark, earth-toned wood.

“Because the traditional masonry craftsmanship which resulted in the ornate brick facades of historic Third Street no longer exists, we feel the best way to achieve harmony with those buildings is to select materials which have a natural interest and texture and to apply them in a thoughtful and well-constructed way,” he said.

Emrick is the former CEO of Western Oregon Waste. Hanks is one of the managing owners of Portland Funding LLC. He also has more than 20 years of experience developing and building residential projects. Wyant owns and manages the Recipe restaurant in Newberg.

“I’ve been in the community a long time and looked around and this could really be something nice for McMinnville that would make the community a better place,” Emrick said. “It gives a whole upscale feeling to downtown. Wine country draws a lot of people in the community. A lot of them go to Newberg. This sort of sets the stage for drawing more of them to McMinnville.”