Long-vacant Greek Cusina in downtown Portland to become art and music venue
By Malia Spencer – Portland Inno, Portland Business Journal Aug 22, 2024 Updated Aug 22, 2024 2:14pm PDT
Plans to turn the long-vacant former home of Greek Cusina into a music venue and jazz club are rolling ahead.
The building at Southwest Fourth and Washington in downtown Portland has been vacant since 2010 when the restaurant closed after its owners fought with the city over a raft of code enforcements. Since then, the building, built in the 1890s, has undergone extensive renovations with new beams, earthquake retrofitting, electrical and HVAC work, said Christopher Pfeifer, managing partner of 404 Entertainment, which is leasing the main floor and the basement of building.
Pfeifer is planning a music venue on the main floor that could hold around 200 people. It is called 400, in a nod to the building address 404-418 S.W. Washington. In the basement he is planning a jazz club with a speakeasy vibe that could seat between 80 to 125 people depending on final layout design. That club is called Corbitt & Macleay, a nod to the original builder and the first grocer in town to import alcohol, said Pfeifer.
Pfeifer came to the project in May 2021. He previously was an owner of the Barrel Room in Old Town before selling that business in 2020. Earlier this year he reopened the jazz club The 1905 in North Portland.
“I am from Portland. Part of this is a little bit of a love letter and building something cool that I would have lined to have gone to when I was younger, going downtown in the '80s and '90s,” he said.
Major work on the space is finished or should be complete by the end of the year. Crews have been working against plans that were originally drawn up in 2014, which led to delays as the building's current owner had to re-do past work.
Seattle lender Columbia Pacific Advisors took control of the building in early 2023, said Will Nelson, who handles direct lending and business development for the firm. He said the company has worked closely with the city to work through the process to complete the "shell and core" work on the building.
"There was a significant amount of incomplete work in the building. The city was wonderful, frankly, at holding our hand to unwind and untangle everything," Nelson said, adding that Pfeifer has been critical in moving the project forward. "We are finally able to navigate that and get the permits and have been under construction to put the building back together again for the last four months."
Once the team moves on to tenant improvements, Pfeifer expects the project can move quicker. Nelson noted that by the end of construction the building will be entirely new
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Hospitality entrepreneur Christopher Pfeifer is working to open a pair of music venues in the long empty building at 404-418 S.W. Washington St. in downtown Portland.
Optimistically, Pfeifer thinks the venues could be eight months out. He plans to partner with a chef to sublease the kitchen operations.
These venues would join Kelly’s Olympian, which is next door and has venue space, and the Jack London Revue, down the block below the Rialto. Pfeifer envisions a music block between the venues where people can walk between different shows.
Initially, plans for the building included some kind of daytime activity, but with changes in downtown foot traffic Pfeifer didn’t see that as feasible. Instead, 400 is likely to be focused on weekend shows, and Corbitt & Macleay will be a five-day-a-week evening venue and bar.
As downtown has become more active, Pfeifer said he has seen a shift from the city and others in envisioning a future that isn’t wholly focused on return-to-office as the way to draw people in.
“We have four floors of office above us. Does that become activated art space? Is it an art gallery or recording studio? Can we have a Nashville kind of thing (with) a building
dedicated to music and art?” he said. “What is fun and interesting is it can really be anything at this point.”
Nelson sees an music and art space as the natural use for the building that has long been a music venue and bar.
"I am hoping the whole thing is lifestyle- and art and entertainment-focused. The location and the city — it feels like that is what it is supposed to be," he said, adding that it will create energy others can feed on. "There are a lot of people waiting to see something happen here and something tangible, to see and know what is coming and a game plan will bring more pieces."
The corner Pfeifer is working on has been challenging since the pandemic and downtown traffic dropped. The block across Washington Street deteriorated and became an epicenter for open drug use. However, the city has cracked down on drug use, and Menashe Properties, which owns the Washington Center on the corner, have cleaned up the site. It is now being marketed for redevelopment.
In the last year or so Pfeifer has seen a marked improvement in the area.
“I really do believe with the other stakeholders and venue holders, we are here and we are going to do this. Downtown will get activated,” he said.