Construction is set to wrap by this spring on Portland, Oregon’s largest construction project in years at SW Washington and Alder. The towering new 1 million square foot building called Block 216 will be one of the tallest in the state, host the city’s first 5-star hotel, and tie in with The Green Loop bike/walk corridor. It will also be home to the third location of Prime Tap House, one of the tenants anchoring a food and drink corridor and outdoor promenade on the ground level that will feature a diverse slate of restaurants and cafes.

The Block 216 project will be a 35 story and 460 ft. tower that will tie with the Park Avenue West building as the fourth tallest in the city, and host a Ritz-Carlton hotel with 251 rooms that will become the new official lodging for the MODA center. On the 20th floor a fine dining restaurant with views of the Cascade mountains and Willamette River, on the 18th floor a 7k square foot day spa with a pool, and floors designated just for resident living space and offices. And, most relevant to foodies, craft beverage fans, and New School Beer readers is the lower level 8,300k sq. ft food hall.

3-year-old Hillsboro, Oregon founded Prime Tap House was hand-selected to become one of the nine food and drinks purveyors and anchor one side of the hall as the primary alcoholic beverages provider.

Prime Tap House owner Dong Khounphachansy says he first heard about the project from some of his regulars at their original Tanasbourne area taproom. With a recently opened second location in Beaverton, Prime was an early breakout success in Hillsboro, but they weren’t planning to come to Portland until the opportunity presented itself.

“We have been pretty blessed and fortunate to be at the right place at the right time and poking the right developers,” says Khounphachansy. “It is a crazy, crazy big project. After the tour, I talked to the broker and a couple other people and said 'hey let's go for it.'"

Both Prime locations are in shopping/living developments in the west suburbs, the Block 216 is in a busy stretch of downtown PDX between W. Burnside, the Morrison Bridge, and the I-405 highway. Getting the rare opportunity to expand into what will almost certainly be a major new hotspot in town is the secret sauce that has made Dong’s quickly growing brand a success in the first place - food and community.

“We have a lot of regulars, and the developers come to our spot a lot, a lot of their friends came to our spot from day one when it was just me behind the bar,” recalls Khounphachansy . At first Prime Tap House was just a beer hall offering 26 drafts of unique and mainstream craft brews and ciders, but before long they were able to expand into an adjacent space and add a kitchen where he makes his now infamous Asian-style wings. "Once we put our food menu on there it changed pretty much everything for us. They kept coming back, they liked, the food, they liked the beer, they liked the people.”

Prime Tap House’s third location going into Block 216 will not feature the Asian-American inspired wings and crispy drinking foods that both their original Tanasbourne and brand new Beaverton taproom have become known for. But with a selection like the one developers have lined up for the incoming food hall, they don’t need to.

"When I first saw the pictures I thought it looked more like a Singapore food hall style concept,” says Khounphachansy with excitement. “There is a lot of asian-style cuisine going in there.”

The Ritz-Carlton Food Hall at Block 216 confirms the following restaurants with the final entry to the lineup still pending:

• Magna Kusina presents Sunrice

• Zab Thai

• Kim Jong Grillin’

• Queen Mama Mediterranean

• Birria la Plaza

• Artly coffee

• Hamono Sushi

• Cake Bar

• Nong’s Khao Man Gai (Pending)
  
  

The Block 216 food hall appears to be putting a diverse cultural representation at the forefront with established favorites like Kim Jong Grillin’ and (hopefully) Nong’s Khao Man Gai and new to us names that we look forward to learning more about. You can find Thai, Mexican, Japanese, Mediterranean, Korean, American and Filipino cuisines represented on the list. Arguably the most buzz-worthy of the bunch is a food stall from Oregonian’s 2021 restaurant of the year Magna Kusina, the Filipino restaurant was recently reported to be opening their second location in Beaverton but the more intimate Sunrice concept may be first to debut.

Khounphachansy says his Prime Tap House location will comprise about 2,000 sq. ft. at one end of the hall, and be the only food hall vendor with beer. Like the other two locations of Prime, this one will have 24-26 drafts representing a variety of local and regional favorites, lesser-known brands that Khounphachansy likes to highlight, and continue his philosophy to showcase a wide range of beer styles and flavors. Separating this location from the others will be Prime’s first cocktail program that leans into Asian-inspired flavors from tropical fruits like lychee integrated into classic drinks like martinis and margaritas.

Block216 will have a shared indoor dining hall that enters/exits the Ritz-Carlton lobby, and an outdoor “party street” that represents the first link in the six-mile Green Loop park that will be open to bicyclists and pedestrians. The section at Block 216 bridges the green loop route running through the block between Alder and Washington streets with a communal landscaped garden and events space. Prime will be directly adjacent with roll-up garage doors so you can grab a beer at bar, food from a vendor, and stroll outside to enjoy it. The building management is opening it up to tenants to host events and Khounphachansy has already dreamed up mini-beer fest concepts with brewery stations along the lighted park-like corridor.

One of the best aspects of the Block 216 are the 2,000+ jobs it’s expected to create, as well as the tourist attraction and commerce it will bring to the downtown area that desperately needs it post-pandemic. The Ritz Carlton will not only rely on hotel bookings to fill up, they have designated 5 floors to premium office space with their own landscaped terraces and designated tenant elevators, but also 132 rooms of livable luxury condominiums on the upper 15 floors. And if you’re worried about parking, they are promising public spaces subject to availability amidst 146 designated resident spaces, plus 107 valet spaces for visitors, with a total of 361 parking stalls.

The massive project may seem intimidating, but for Khounphachansy the main concern is replicating what has made Prime Tap House special already, and that’s the staff. They are currently on the lookout for great people to join the Prime family as they plan to open for a busy Spring tentatively on April 1st, 2023.