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Ever since Russ Kuhns bought the historic Smith Block building in Old Town Chinatown nearly 10 years ago, he’s wanted it to have a restaurant.

鈥淚t’s just a beautiful, marvelous old building,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith the beautiful brick that we have in there and the beautiful beams, it’s just classic, and I just thought adding something like that would be just fantastic.鈥�

Portland-based Scott | Edwards Architecture has designed a project to convert a 3,000-square-foot ground-floor space in the Smith Block, at 111 S.W. Naito Parkway, into Lechon Caf茅, a Latin American restaurant. The transformation will provide the 142-year-old building with two giant saltwater aquariums.

鈥淩eally, the centerpiece is these beautiful aquariums,鈥� Kuhns said. 鈥淭he aquariums are going to be real class.鈥�

Incorporation of a 1,200-gallon coral reef tank and a 500-gallon jellyfish tank along with associated equipment provided a final Smith Block challenge, Scott | Edwards Architecture principal Brian Mares said. The project caps a full building renovation he helped design. In 2008, crews finished converting the three upper floors of the four-story, 25,000-square-foot building into office space.

鈥淎nytime anybody gets a chance to work on a building like this it’s very fun and very challenging,鈥� Mares said. 鈥淚t’s very difficult to get a modern use into a historic building. The aquariums and the kitchen were extremely challenging.鈥�

The design team worked with aquarium consultant Joe Keeling of Beaverton-based Westside Aquatic Service on the fish tanks and learned a lot in the process, Scott | Edwards architect Sara Ruzomberka said.

鈥淵ou actually have to design the fish tank and the structure it’s going to fit on,鈥� she said.

Ensuring safe installation of large-scale aquariums involves careful planning, said Keeling, who became fascinated with tropical fish after a trip to Hawaii as a child. His work includes engineering steel frames that can support the weight of the tanks and their contents as well as finding adequate space for filters and other equipment associated with saltwater aquariums.

鈥淚t definitely makes it more challenging,鈥� he said. 鈥淓specially at this size, you’ve got more and larger equipment.鈥�

The 10-foot-long jellyfish tank in Lechon Caf茅 will be installed behind the bar and have 2-inch-thick acrylic walls to keep it from bowing. It will likely contain moon jellies, which can grow to as long as 8 to 10 inches in diameter, Keeling said. The 12-foot-long coral tank will be placed toward the back wall and be visible from the building lobby. The coral will continue to grow in the tank and become mature after about a year, he said.

鈥淎 mature reef tank is quite a sight,鈥� he said.

The restaurant design calls for bright colors to match the Central American and Caribbean-style cuisine and the tropical fish in the aquariums. Also, the project will respect the building’s historic character and tie into the renovation of the upper floors, Mares said. This includes keeping original brick walls and ceiling trusses exposed.

Later, an adjacent parking lot will be converted into a 2,000-square-foot courtyard for use by restaurant patrons and office tenants, Mares said. In the meantime, Lechon Caf茅 will take advantage of large existing doors facing the street to provide views of the Willamette River and Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Because of the substantial numbers of people drawn to the park and events there like the Portland Saturday Market, Kuhns is confident about opening a restaurant along Naito Parkway.

鈥淣aito Parkway gets a lot of traffic,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s just a logical space to have an upscale restaurant.鈥�

Crews from Lake Oswego-based Landrise Development are scheduled to start construction late this year and finish early next year.

Lechon Caf茅

Location: Smith Block, 111 S.W. Naito Parkway, Portland

Cost: undisclosed

Anticipated construction start date: late 2014

Anticipated construction completion date: early 2015

Owner: Russ Kuhns

Architect: Scott | Edwards Architecture

General contractor: Landrise Development

Other associates: Westside Aquatic Service, NW Restaurant Consultants