Adaptive reuse of a high school to a concert space in Portland, Oregion: Revolution Hall

A friend just visited Portland and she and her friends attended a concert, and hung out on a rooftop deck, in a venue that had once been Washington High School, now called Revolution Hall.

Laying the groundwork.  Most cities aren't capable of a willingness to entertain such an idea.  Portland is "exceptional" in that it does.  But I attribute this in large part to the groundbreaking approach of the McMenamin brothers ("Vision and Versatility: The Story of McMenamins," Spirited Magazine, "Preservation Brotherhood," Chicago Tribune, 2004).

First, they started buying movie theaters like the Baghdad Theater on Hawthorne Avenue, and added brewpub functions to help them survive.  In the process they've helped to preserve neighborhood embedded cinemas across the city.

From that they moved to taking on other historic buildings in the city, focusing on tavern and food related operations.  From "The McMenamin Brothers," Northwest Travel and Life):

“I’ve always gone with what just feels good,” says Mike McMenamin, 64, the senior of the two.

Few business plans get very far with a “what feels good” engine behind it. Mike’s laid-back persona belies the astute business savvy within. It turns out what feels good to Mike and Brian feels good to a lot of people, not only those who share their boomer generation, but younger guests as well.

“We sell an experience,” Brian says. A McMenamins property is a destination, not just a place you bed down for the night or grab a meal. The “experience” Brian refers to is unique to McMenamins. And the devil is in so many detail.

... Armed with inspiration, the brothers went into business together in the early ‘80s. McMenamins was born. It has since grown to include nine hotels (with two more in the wings), dozens of pubs and restaurants, movie theaters, spas, music venues, a coffee roaster, and a winery, brewery, cidery and distillery.

“We always try to reach out and be part of the community,” says Brian. This is the offspring of an implicit karma philosophy of doing the right thing. For the McMenamin brothers, it’s not amassing an empire that matters, it’s that each property, each venue is a part of the community where it resides—in the community, for the community.

Kennedy School.  The second key element is the example of Kennedy School, also involving the McMenamins, which has been converted into a bed and breakfast, the Kennedy School Hotel, with a brewpub-restaurant and special event facilities ("From Portland, cues for Philly school-building reuse," WHYY/NPR).  From the article:

A lesson in creative thinking

Neighbors had successfully campaigned to have the Kennedy School historically designated, but several attempts to find an appropriate redevelopment failed. The McMenamins, developers of hotels, brewpubs and entertainment venues in Oregon and Washington, won city approval for their proposal.

It took creative financing, but more importantly, creative thinking. As a result, The Kennedy School‘s 57-room hotel may be not be the weirdest thing in Portland, but it is among the most unique.

The school remains a vital community gathering point by offering public meeting space and through events. The auditorium is now a movie theatre, with weekly matinees and infant-friendly showings; lectures and community events are held in the old library and classrooms; weddings happen in the former gymnasium.

Start with a plan.  I use this case as an example of the difference between issuing a Request for Proposals versus creating a master plan first.  With an RFP, you're at the mercy of the respondents, with a plan, you lay the groundwork for possibilities--hopefully, because a plan can also constrain possibilities--and a community consensus for what can be done.

Portland did a plan for Kennedy School first.  And only after the plan was finished and adopted did they issue an RFP.

-- Kennedy School Master Plan, Portland

And McMenamins was the winning respondent to the subsequent RFP.

They've since gone on to do similar and even more innovative projects across the Pacific Northwest.

Conclusion.  At the same time, the McMenamins have created a/the space in cities like Portland, but also in adjoining states, for the consideration of creative and innovative adaptive reuse projects, that wouldn't normally be considered by most communities, especially for old school buildings still located within neighborhoods.

Their idea of "community citizenship," that the building will remain in the community and they need to be responsive in part to be good neighbors, is also atypical of many developer-operators.

McMenamins has also motivated other organizations to take on similar kinds of projects, and be successful at it.

(Note this argument about the importance of "laying the groundwork" for innovation was also made in an entry about urban design improvements in Downtown Oklahoma City, see "Change isn't usually that simple: The repatterning of Oklahoma City's Downtown Streetscape.")