Virginia Cafe - RIP?
Just heard on KGW that our favorite downtown developer - Tom Moyer - is planning on redeveloping the block that the Virginia Cafe is in into a 35 story office tower. Wow! Zell Bros., Virginia Cafe, assorted other businesses? All gone. The Virginia Cafe (VC for those in the know) is a Portland tradition. I hit it regularly after work for a quick Jim Beam and a beer. I’m saddened by this news. Does anyone have any other info on this project?
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Well, shit. The VC is expensive, but there’s nothing like it nearby. Closest thing is Tugboat, but they don’t have a full kitchen. Nuts.
I’ve been waiting for this to hit ever since Vera’s plan to make that street a European-style pedestrian one. It was mentioned then that the VC spot might be targeted, and I’ve been holding my breathe ever since.
that entire block is kind of an eyesore. that entire area in fact needs some help. Nordstroms is just such an ugly behemoth…main issue there.
Good… the Fox Tower did wonders for the area. Although I do miss the old Vat and Tonsure…
I may miss the dingy old VC, but all in all I welcome the change. I do hope the design includes ground floor retail if not a couple floors of retail.
P.S. dieselboi, any plans to bring back the “guess where in portland I took this photo
I think the O story says they’re looking for someone to fill 45,000 sq ft of retail, and a national retailer with no presence in Portland.
H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M
Ahem.
The Virginia Cafe should be able to find a new space somewhere, right? There’s plenty of space avail. downtown. That assumes the cafe owners don’t feel like hanging it up. Perhaps B!x could become a short order cook.
The VC would not be the VC is it’s forced to move. I say build the damned tower on top of it. Think of the character that would have. 35-story office building with a staple and icon of a bar nestled on its first floor.
They can have the VC when they pry it from my cold dead hands.
B!x, why do you hate the future?
Because the future is not always awesome just because it’s the future.
man, that zell’s building is a peach of modernism as well. love that.
and the VC, between the great signage and interior booths, will be a loss.
but, principally, i think the greatest loss will be if the area loses more fun local busineses that keep the downtown “downtowny”, and put in more generic national businesses like H&M (”old navy for office workers”).
i think what that area needs is more housing, more commerical, more large spaces AND more small spaces…. not exclusively just large commerical. in my mind that is bad zoning that will hurt the city in the long run.
The VC probably won’t survive if it moves. Remember Hamburger Mary’s? Oh well. I agree that we don’t need another Macy’s or Nordies or H&M, but it is in the cards isn’t it. I love skyscrapers and how they make a city look. I love downtown areas the most. I love wandering around and seeing it all. Too bad the cool places to stop for a quick drink are disappearing.
ok, just read some more about the project. its actually pretty neat- from bottom to top:
underground parking garage, 3 floors retail, commerical space, and 85 housing units.
by putting those housing units in there, i think it helps keep places LIKE the VC alive and well… but well, too bad that the VC itself suffers.
Morgan: I think the real question here should be: why do you hate every structure in Portland that’s over 10 years old? Would you really prefer another bland office tower with a Chipotle and a few other boring national chains on the bottom level to an iconic bar that everyone seems to love? Downtown has plenty of office towers but not nearly enough comfortable, laid back bars with history. Long live the VC!
Wow - that totally sucks - the VC was indeed one of the best real places to stop in and have a couple drinks when on that end of downtown. It’s all that a good dive bar should be. Cheap, yet good, smokey yet not overwhelming, the servers were always cool….it may have been called a Cafe and sure it serves food - but to me it was always a bar. And I would much rather have food in a bar than a drink in a restaurant…which is what the atmosphere of most new places seems to be with the whole “we must be family friendly” nonsense. That really does suck.
This is just one of many.
It will just keep happening until everything you onced loved about portland is dead. One by one they will disapear to the demand of development. Go back to beaverton where you belong developers!!
1st the Virgina Cafe.. then what, Finnigans? No more park blocks? every beautiful charming wonderness that is portland? Its a chain effect. Just a few months ago they approved a highrise off the blocks that will be replaceing another older building and exceeds the standard highth for all the buildings on the park blocks.