A brewery and restaurant is the latest tenant moving to the The Waterfront Vancouver.
Ghost Runners Brewery, based in Vancouver, will open its brewpub at a new building that broke ground at the waterfront this week. It will be the company’s second location, but its first brewpub.
Ghost Runners had looked to open a restaurant space to complement the existing brewery, but nothing seemed to fit, owner and founder Jeff Seibel said. Moving to the waterfront, he said, is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“That whole area is going to change,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “It’s going to put Vancouver on the map and we’re stoked to be a part of it.”
The brewery joins five other businesses waiting to move to the Waterfront, a 32-acre stretch of land beside the Columbia River being developed at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion.
Gramor Development, the Tualatin, Ore.-based firm leading the project, announced the deal with Ghost Runners Brewery Thursday. Gramor representatives said in a prepared statement the brewery aligned with its vision, particularly with a history of promoting running and an active lifestyle.
“We’re creating a unique urban destination unlike anything that exists in the Portland metro area and restaurants want to be a part of it,” said Barry Cain, president of Gramor.
Ghost Runners Brewery’s new location will be on the second floor of Block 12, in a building it will share with Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar. The 10-barrel brewery will have 5,300 square feet of indoor restaurant space and a 1,200-square-foot outdoor deck.
The new building is set to open in 2018. It will flank the Grant Street Pier, a 90-foot pier stretching over the Columbia River; and border a 7.3-acre city park. Gramor said the building will evoke a boathouse feel, with horizontal rooflines and sliding glass doors that overlook the river.
Seibel, who founded Ghost Runners Brewery in an 8×10-foot shed in his backyard 2012, said he felt “humbled” by the company’s trajectory.
“I felt that people love great beer. My objective was always to make a great product,” he said. “The waterfront is going to let me give them the experience that I think they want: good beer, great food and a gathering spot.”
Other businesses waiting to move to the waterfront include M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty, WildFin American Grill and Hotel Indigo.
