A former home furnishing design center on Northwest 21st Avenue is being converted to an Irish brewpub and restaurant. is performing a full renovation for the owners of in downtown Portland.  According to a land use review filed with the Bureau of Development Services in February, the project was designed by Portland-based Enfuego Design. The new Kells Brew Pub is slated to open later this month.

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For more than 30 years, the has endured.

Owners Connie and Robert “Pudgy” Hunt built the sports tavern out of an abandoned building in 1978, when only a handful of other restaurants and bars existed in Southeast Portland. They’ve since overcome economic downturns, competition from newer bars and Robert’s severe motorcycle accident three years ago.

But it wasn’t until last September, when the tavern suffered immense damage in a devastating grease fire, that the family decided to start over.

“As with every hospitality business, we had been spending a lot of time wondering what the trends are and how are we going to keep up,” Connie said. “But after the fire, we sat down as a family and said, ‘Let’s take this opportunity to go back to who we are.’ ”

The Hunts, along with their two sons, Kevin and David, closed the business and got to work. The fire, which occurred on the Hunts’ wedding anniversary, activated the fire-suppression system, covering the entire saloon in a thick blanket of grime; virtually every inch of the interior had to be scrubbed. Even worse, the fire was difficult to extinguish because the suppression foam mixed with the grease; consequently, all kitchen equipment needed to be replaced.

“I thought the whole place was going to go up in flames,” said Kevin Hunt, who was in the bar when the fire erupted. “We were lucky: The firefighters have their Halloween party here every year, so they got here really quick.”

When the saloon reopened in November, the place looked like new. The kitchen was state of the art, the carpet was removed to expose the bar’s original 1896 Douglas fir floor and Connie had, in her opinion, converted the menu back to its original integrity.

Just as importantly, the Hunt family was reunited. David, the older brother, returned to the business. And Robert and Connie, after taking significant time off following Robert’s motorcycle accident, were back doing what they love: greeting their regulars with smiles.

The reopening did not come without a price, however. The Hunts had to completely cash out their retirement fund. And although business has started to pick up lately now that the Trail Blazers’ NBA season is under way, Connie and Robert are banking on the completion of the Portland Streetcar Loop to bring in more revenue. As it is, the saloon is barely getting by.

“This is like an expensive hobby right now. I tell my husband, ‘If I wanted an expensive hobby, I would have gotten a horse,” Connie said. “It would have been more economical for us to lock the door, put a ‘closed’ sign on it and just wait to sell it.”

The Hunts question whether the city is looking out for its small businesses. According to Connie, various regulations imposed by the city have made the restart process more difficult.

“Just as we’re cashing our retirement funds to make this thing continue, I’m getting hit with 14 percent in water increase fees directed specifically at hospitality, with other regulations coming our way that are going to cost us an enormous amount of money,” she said. “When are the bureaucrats of the city going to make their investment so small businesses like our family’s can survive?”

The East Bank Saloon is known for being one of the city’s original sports bars, where Portlanders have gone for decades to hear tales about Robert, a high school basketball legend, playing overseas and to see his gold medals hanging on the walls.

“We’ve been here for the good times and the bad,” Robert said. “Our lawyer met his wife here; people just have a connection (to it).”

For the Hunts, their connections to the saloon and to each other are now stronger than ever. So, in their eyes, the risk has already paid off.

“It’s just that old saying that sometimes good things can come from the bad,” Connie said. “We turned something negative into something very positive.”

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General contractor is converting a former Chili’s restaurant in Beaverton to the second location of McMinnville-based .  Besides adding new commercial kitchen equipment, a new bar, reception, and dining area, a 2,100-square-foot, two-story addition is being constructed to house a dining and banquet area on the building’s east side.  The building’s north elevation will see a 1,248-square-foot addition to house a food preparation area on the first floor and offices on the second, and a large covered outdoor dining space will be added to the building’s south end.  The remodel was designed by , and work is due to be complete by January.

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The owners of Portland’s appear to be opening a new brewery public house.

Gerard and Lucille McAleese, owners of Kells Irish Pub, on Wednesday applied for a liquor license under the official applicant name of Kells Brew Pub LLC. The new location will be on Northwest 21^st Avenue, one block from West Burnside Street.

Kells Brew Pub will serve Irish pub food, host live music and seat 72 in its restaurant – 32 outdoors, 25 in a lounge area, and 40 in a banquet area – according to the application.

The property at 210 N.W. 21^st Ave., leased by New & Neville Real Estate Services, was previously a home furnishing design center, according to the firm’s president, Mark New, and has been vacant for about six months.

The adjacent storefront belongs to Palm Beach Tan, and a nearly 6,000-square-foot retail space at 202 N.W. 21^st Ave., previously a wine store, is still vacant.

Kells also has locations in Seattle and San Francisco.

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The Albert is a 72-unit, mixed-use apartment complex going up on North Williams Avenue. The area is growing quickly – and as more businesses are establishing themselves on the busy bike corridor, neighbors are wondering how the developments will change the local scene.

Crews have started framing the third of The Albert’s four stories, which has people talking at Maui’s, the bar next door. Maui’s opened in 2009 and its back patio/smoking area abuts the new development with only a foot or two to spare.

Here are some thoughts on the development from one of the bartenders.

I’m kind of worried about whoever moves into the apartments facing this place because it’s going to be noisy over here. I don’t know what their rents are going to be, but I definitely wouldn’t want to pay any sort of high rent to face the lovely Maui’s on Williams. I live in the neighborhood and it’s nice to see that the area is developing, but there’s a vibe of gentrification going on. It’s cool for me, as a 30-year-old white kid, but the hipster crew may start treading on ground over here that’s not necessarily theirs to tread on. I’d hate to see this street become the new Mississippi. I’d rather see a grocery store with fresh produce on this street.” – Jason Rippeteau, bartender at Maui’s

For more on The Albert, check out the story we ran in September: The Albert on North Williams rises above neighbors’ concerns

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A sign on the building at 1022 W. Burnside St. reads “For Sale,” but nighttime revelers shouldn’t dismay just yet. Only the building is for sale, not the Aura nightclub.

The building has housed the nightclub since 2003. Aura plans to continue operating in the space after the sale. The 4,200-square-foot building is for sale at an asking price of $1.1 million.

Dan Zilka owns the building and club, as well as other buildings and nightclubs on the same block. He said he’s selling the building to raise some capital.

The Aura space is more like a lounge, with modern interior finishes and a swanky atmosphere. It also features a special lighting system that projects different colors on the walls.

Zilka bought the space, a former fabric warehouse, after he closed one of his former clubs, called Panorama, in the space now occupied by Living Room Theaters at Southwest Stark Street and 10th Avenue. Panorama was “the hot spot in Portland for 10 years – 10,000 square feet of fun and frolic,” Zilka said.

Zilka closed Panorama in 2002 and opened Aura soon after. Aura is more “polished,” he said.

“It was the first time I’ve ever done a total remodel from the ground up,” Zilka said.

That remodel included one feature that might comfort potential investors in a nightclub space: soundproofing. The building has triple-paned windows and a special roof.

“We put these special spaces in the roof in between the roof layers that captures sound because that was one of our issues with Panorama – a lot of sound escapes out of the roof,” Zilka said.

At night when music is blaring, only a dull roar escapes – at least until the doors open.

For details on purchasing the Aura building, contact broker Debbie Thomas of Debbie Thomas Real Estate at 503-226-2141 or deb@debbiethomas.com.

Block by Block is a weekly look at commercial real estate around Portland. Send suggestions for properties to BlockxBlock@djcOregon.com.

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What was Portland’s most popular lesbian bar could soon be Southeast Portland’s next apartment complex.

The Weird Bar, at 3701 S.E. Division St., for 15 years was better known as the Egyptian Room, or more colloquially, the E-Room. It was Portland’s only lesbian-devoted bar, and was even named the best lesbian bar in the country by GayCities.com in 2009.

The bar, amid financial difficulties, was rebranded last year. But the newly named Weird Bar closed this year, and the building is for sale. The asking price for the 8,000-square-foot building and an adjacent 8,000-square-foot lot is $1.36 million, and brokers are in talks with a possible buyer.

Former owner Kim Davis bought the business in 1995, when it was a strip club. She purchased the building in 2001.

“I bought it, and I turned it to a dance club for women – gay bar, you know,” Davis said.

Broker Kip Running of Commercial Investment Partners said that potential buyers for the building vary between would-be bar owners and developers, including one that has plans to redevelop the property, and create retail space on the ground floor and apartments above.

“That kind of redevelopment is pretty much what’s going on in the close-in eastside right now,” Running said.

Davis said she wouldn’t mind if the property were no longer a bar. She doesn’t drive down Southeast Division Street anymore, so whatever happens to the property “doesn’t matter to me,” she said.

“I imagine the neighbors would like to have a few more nice stores there instead of large crowds of people leaving at 2:30 in the morning,” she said.

Davis plans to take a year off with her partner and play poker.

“In 16 years I probably worked a whole 42-year career,” she said.

For details on purchasing the Weird Bar building, contact Running at 503-799-2488 or kiprunning@cipnw.com.

Block by Block is a weekly look at commercial real estate around Portland. Send suggestions for properties to BlockxBlock@djcOregon.com.

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