“We began reusing buildings and materials well before it became popular,” says Susan Truax, director of sales for McMenamins, a Portland, Ore.-based company with an eclectic menu of properties that includes historic hotels, pubs, concert venues and movie theaters.
Started in 1974 by the McMenamins brothers, Mike and Brian, the company portfolio now encompasses more than 60 entertainment, dining and hospitality properties, including 11 hotels.
Most of McMenamins’ properties, all of which are fun, whimsical and interesting, are located in older buildings that once served as schools, churches, theaters and homes.
“The owners of the company recognized the environmental responsibility in restoring old buildings as well as using recycled material wherever possible in new construction,” Truax says. “But it’s more than environmental responsibility.
“There is an intangible good in what may seem like an old run-down barn or music hall that has been abandoned for years,” she continues. "The spirit of history lives on and there is nothing quite like taking what is left from the past, building on it in a responsible and respectful manner, reintroducing the space to the present and helping take it to another level.”
McMenamins' top meeting-oriented properties are the Edgefield and Kennedy School in Portland and Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, Ore.
Built in 1911 as the county poor farm, the Edgefield sits on 74 acres of farmland at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Portland. It has 114 European-style guest rooms, 12,780 square feet of meeting space, complimentary Wi-Fi, the Black Rabbit Restaurant and Bar, and access to two par-3 golf courses. The largest event space is the 3,200-square-foot Blackberry Hall, which can accommodate 225 people for a reception.
The Kennedy School, a historic elementary school in northeast Portland that opened in 1915, has been transformed into a 57-room hotel with a restaurant, multiple small bars, a movie theater, a soaking pool and a brewery. There is more than 8,500 square feet of meeting space, including the 3,400-square-foot Gymnasium and 600-square-foot Agnes Kennedy White Library.
Encompassing 13 acres, the 77-room Grand Lodge, a former Masonic and Eastern Star property 25 miles west of Portland, has two restaurants, a spa and soaking pool, a disc golf course, and indoor and outdoor event space for groups of up to 1,000 people.
“We provide places where people are encouraged to slow down, sit back, relax, talk, read, eat, drink, enjoy some music, soak in a pool, watch a film or complete the business of the day,” Truax says.
