Vancouver-based Beaches Restaurant & Bar will soon boast a second location with a makeover of the former Rose City Cafe & Wine Bar at Portland International Airport.
Remodeling work is expected to start this week, with the new restaurant opening in April, said Mark Matthias, owner of the popular restaurant, which operates on the Columbia River waterfront.
General contractor RSV Building Solutions will oversee a $1 million conversion of the airport restaurant, which will also take over space previously occupied by the Pendleton store. Matthias said the new restaurant will reflect a tropical beach theme, with bamboo, wood pilings, rustic metal and a nostalgic hot rod as part of the decor.
The 7,000-square-foot restaurant will seat 174 and include a retail sales area for Beaches-brand merchandise and a counter to serve take-out orders to on-the-go airport customers.
“You can take food through the gates” and onto the airplanes, Matthias said. “That is the market we’re going after with that concept.”
He signed an 11-year lease agreement with a five-year option in June 2009 for the site occupied by the Rose City Cafe on the north end of the Oregon Market, the airport’s pre-security concession area. It was opened 15 years ago by the Red Lion hotel chain and has been owned and operated by the Hilton Hotel Corp. for the past several years.
As part of his contract with the airport’s operator, the Port of Portland and with Hilton, Matthias agreed to retain the Rose City Cafe’s 55-person staff at the airport Beaches.
“They (Hilton) said they would walk away from the restaurant if we took over their entire team,” he said.
Brand recognition
Matthias said he expects the airport site to boost name recognition for Beaches, a restaurant that remains on the north shore of the river.
“It’s safe to say that 98 percent of the Portland market doesn’t know we exist. This will give us a lot more exposure,” he said.
Unlike Beaches in Vancouver, the airport Beaches will offer breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. It will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
