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The Lloyd District’s new hotel grand opening draws a grand

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June 16, 2015, 10:55am PDT
Jon Bell
Portland Business Journal

Altabira City Tavern ballroom, photo by Andrea Lonas
A wide wall of windows lets guests take in expansive Rose City views. photo by Andrea Lonas

There was music and dancing, food and drinks. There were sunny, sweeping views of downtown Portland and the West Hills.

And there were close to a thousand people enjoying it all.

The Hotel Eastlund, a former Red Lion hotel in the Lloyd District that underwent a $15 million remodel, officially opened its new doors last Wednesday evening with a festive grand opening party. The event included a ceremonial ribbon cutting, appetizers and drinks from chef David Machado, who has two restaurants in the new hotel, and musical entertainment from a few different acts, including U.K. soul singer Andy Abraham.

The reborn hotel is a project of Grand Ventures Hotel LLC, a subsidiary of Seattle’s Posh Ventures. The developer was also behind the Hotel Modera, a once-rundown hotel at Southwest Clay Street reborn as a modern boutique hotel, much as the Hotel Eastlund has been.

Click through the gallery for a look at the Hotel Eastlund’s grand opening soiree.

Look Inside Altabira, Chef David Machado’s Beery Lloyd District Restaurant, Now Officially Open

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pdxEater
by Chad Walsh
June 15, 2015

Altabira City Tavern, photo by dina avila, pdxeater
Altabira City Tavern, photo by Dina Avila, pdxEater

The beer-centric rooftop restaurant features 16 all-Oregon-brewed beer taps and a 103-seat patio with sweeping views of downtown and the West Hills.

Altabira, the new beer-forward restaurant perched atop the Lloyd District’s newly christened Hotel Eastlund (née, the old Red Lion Hotel) officially opens for business today.

Today’s opening follows the opening of Citizen Baker, Nel Centro Chef David Machado’s artisan bakery-breakfast-and-lunch spot, which opened on the Eastlund’s ground floor on the first of the month.

Altabira’s design takes advantage of of a couple of natural amenities: a view of downtown and the West Hills and, via plenty of floor-to-ceiling windows, all the natural light a restaurateur could hope for.

If you include the bar, the dining room seats nearly 100 guests—a number that more than doubles if you consider Altabira’s 103-seat open-air rooftop patio, complete with fire pits for when the weather turns cold.

As fas as drinks and eats go, expect 16 taps, all of which are dedicated to Oregon beers, as well as dishes like beef tartare, braised rabbit and vegetable pie, pork cutlets with potato-arugula salads and sides like onion rings served with green goddess dressing.

Altabira City Tavern: 1021 NE Grand Ave., (503) 963-3600, Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; Tavern, 2:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 2:30 p.m. to midnight on Fridays, 4 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays and 4 to 10 p.m. on Sundays; Dinner, 5 to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 pm., Fridays and Saturdays, 4 to 9 p.m., on Sundays

All photos by Dina Avila

Read the article and view more images on pdxEater.

Hotel Eastlund Gala Grand Opening Event

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Saturday, June 13, 2015
Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Owner-Chef David Machado, Altabira City Tavern opening
Chef David Machado is the man behind Eastlund’s Altabira City Tavern and Citizen Baker. Photo by Byron Beck.
Hotel Eastlund hosted a swanky Opening Gala on Wednesday, June 10. At the sun-lit indoor/outdoor gala guests were offered hors d’oeurves and beverages by Chef David Machado’s Altabira City Tavern and Citizen Baker.

Live music provided by platinum-selling UK recording artist Andy Abraham (of U.K. “X Factor” fame), Mike Pardew Trio, Third Angle New Music, and Dan Balmer’s Caminhos Cruzados also made for a festive atmosphere that supported the NW Film Center and Third Angle New Music.

Prior to the party was an official ribbon cutting ceremony with Hotel Eastlund’s owner Alan Battersby who was joined by Metro Council President Tom Hughes, Travel Portland CEO Jeff Miller, Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson, and Scott Cruickshank, CEO of the Oregon Convention Center.

Hotel Eastlund is the first contemporary, four-star boutique hotel located in downtown Portland’s Eastside. Developed by Grand Ventures Hotel, LLC, (Hotel Modera in Portland, Ore., Hotel Andra and Hotel Deca in Seattle) and designed by Holst Architecture. Hotel Eastlund is adjacent to the Oregon Convention Center, Moda Center, Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Central Eastside’s culinary hub. The mid-century inspired Hotel Eastlund features 168 rooms and suites, a flexible ballroom with floor-to-ceiling windows, two executive boardrooms and two private dining rooms overlooking downtown Portland. The hotel’s dining options include Altabira City Tavern, a rooftop restaurant and bar by celebrated chef David Machado that offers American cuisine with a beer-centric menu. Citizen Baker, adjacent to the lobby, is a casual daytime café and evening wine bar.

Hotel Eastlund is located at 1021 SE Grand. For more information click HERE.

Read the article at GoLocalPdx.com here.

Hotel Eastlund opens in Lloyd District

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Photos: Hotel Eastlund opens in Lloyd District
By: Sam Tenney
June 12, 2015
DCJ Oregon

Hotel Eastlund

A grand opening was held this week for Hotel Eastlund, a newly-remodeled Lloyd District boutique hotel. The former Red Lion on Northeast Grand Avenue was purchased in 2013 by Seattle-based Grand Ventures Hotel LLC, a group of partners also responsible for the 2008 renovation of Hotel Modera in downtown Portland.
Holst Architecture designed the hotel’s $10 million renovation, which general contractor Deacon began work on last September. Major improvements included updating the building with a new curtainwall that provides rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, conversion of a vehicle driveway to a pedestrian entry with expanded lobby space, removing sections of post-tensioned concrete to accommodate an express elevator to the hotel’s top-floor restaurant and bar, and opening up the previously-windowless ballroom and exposing it to natural light.
Corner rooms at the hotel were combined and converted to suites, bringing the room count from 174 to 168. A ground-floor bakery and café, Citizen Baker, will double as a wine bar in the evenings. Altabira City Tavern, the hotel’s top-floor restaurant and bar, features views of downtown Portland and opens Monday.

Read the article and view the gallery of photos HERE.

East side energy: Altabira, Citizen Baker and Hotel Eastlund

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Travel Portland | David Machado Restaurants

Hotel Eastlund brings new energy to east side

Hotel Eastlund rendering
Hotel Eastlund rendering

Opening in June, the Hotel Eastlund in the Lloyd District will offer boutique accommodations within blocks of the Oregon Convention Center and the Moda Center on Portland’s east side. Nearly one year and $10 million in renovations has transformed a ‘60s-era structure into a plush, modern establishment with breathtaking views of the city skyline. Featuring mid-century-inspired design and floor-to-ceiling windows, the 168-room property boasts two executive boardrooms, a ballroom and two private dining rooms.

Backed by Grand Ventures Hotel (developer of the local Hotel Modera and Seattle’s Hotel Andra and Hotel Deca), Hotel Eastlund’s crowning glory is its rooftop restaurant, Altabira City Tavern. Led by David Machado (of Nel Centro), the beer-centric restaurant comes complete with 16 taps for local craft brews and a bounty of Northwest wine and spirits. American cuisine dominates, incorporating local, seasonal ingredients throughout. The views are inspiring from inside as well as out, where an expansive patio with fire pits and heating elements beckons guests. Downstairs, Citizen Baker, a daytime café and evening wine bar adjacent to the lobby, also showcases Machado’s exptertise. Artisan breads and pastries accompany soups and salads, along with coffee from local Ristretto Roasters.

Hotel Eastlund rendering
Hotel Eastlund rendering

Hotel Eastlund is easily accessible by Portland Streetcar and MAX light rail, making the hotel an ideal jumping-off point for exploring all corners of the city.

View and download a pdf of Travel Portland’s Media Update, June 2015.
Read the entire Travel Portland newsletter.

http://www.travelportland.com/

The Oregonian: Lloyd District Rising with Hotel Eastlund and David Machado

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Former Red Lion Hotel in the Lloyd District to reopen as boutique Hotel Eastlund

Thursday, May 28, 2015 at 5:00 AM
By Elliot Njus
The Oregonian/OregonLive

Chef David Machado, Altabira City Tavern
Restauranteur David Machado will operate two eateries at the Hotel Eastlund.


When Seattle-based Grand Ventures Hotel bought the Lloyd District’s Red Lion Hotel in 2013 and launched a major renovation, it was one of a few scattered examples of private reinvestment in the eastside district.

As the hotel reopens Monday as the Hotel Eastlund, fresh from a $15 million renovation that took the building down to its bones, it’s in a district that could have thousands of new residents within a few years.

Meanwhile, the Lloyd Center mall is in the middle of its own $50 million renovation. And Metro is well on its way to landing a large hotel near its Oregon Convention Center, which the regional government says will help drum up new business both for the convention center and nearby hotels.

“When we started, we were not really aware of the breadth of development in the district,” said restaurateur David Machado, who will operate two eateries in the new hotel. “What’s happened around us was very surprising.”

Grand Ventures, hoping to duplicate its success in turning around the downtown Hotel Modera, bought the Lloyd District hotel in 2013 for $12.5 million. As at the downtown hotel, previously a Days Inn, they aimed to create a destination not only for travelers, but also nearby workers and residents.

The Lloyd District hotel opened as the Cosmopolitan Motor Hotel which, as its name suggests, was built for guests coming and going by car. For people walking by or traveling by transit, it might as well have been a fortress.

So a design by Holst Architecture of Portland aimed to turn the hotel inside-out, adding pedestrian access from all sides. Much of the lobby is space once occupied by an auto ramp. Space formerly used for guests-only breakfast will now be Citizen Baker, Machado’s bakery-cafe and wine bar that will be open to the public that will also cater meetings at the hotel and provide room service.

The hotel’s upper floors were largely gutted as well, necessitated by the presence of mold, asbestos and lead paint, Grand Ventures partner Alan Battersby said.

The top floor will house a 5,300-square-foot ballroom, small meeting rooms and Machado’s Altabira City Tavern, which replaces the Red Lion’s Windows Skyroom and Lounge. That restaurant and Citizen Baker are expected to open later in June.

— Elliot Njus

Read the article on OregonLive. Be sure and look at the slideshow!

Michelle Glass named General Manager, Nel Centro

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Michelle Glass, General Manager, Nel Centro
Michelle Glass, General Manager, Nel Centro
It is our pleasure to announce the recent promotion of Michelle Glass to Nel Centro General Manager. Michelle has been the Assistant GM at Nel Centro since its start in 2009 and we are so very proud to continue our wonderful relationship with her. We asked Michelle to share with our readers a little about her story and how she has enjoyed so much success after relocating to Portland.

When and how did it all start?

Michelle: In August of 2008, my husband and I visited Portland on vacation, fell in love with it and started making plans to relocate from our home in Ashland. We were looking to move up to the city and be around a more diverse food scene with more cultural opportunities for our daughter and more of a bike scene for my husband, Steve who is in the bike business. I was introduced to (Nel Centro owner) David Machado through a mutual acquaintance from another downtown restaurant. Dave was just starting to put [Nel Centro] together so everything kind of happened all at the right time. By the next April I had moved up here.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen over the last 6 years?

Michelle: I think what’s had the biggest impact on our business is understanding where our guests are coming from. Recognizing that we serve a diverse group of people: the business community, performing arts patrons, hotel guests, PSU etc. and that all those groups use the restaurant differently. Also, recognizing our patrons and how they use Nel Centro has really allowed us to tune into menu items, staffing hours — all of that stuff.

What’s your favorite thing about working here?

Michelle: I like our staff because everyone is really dedicated to hospitality. They’re a joy to work with. I also love our regulars. I see many many people that I adore who visit us on a regular basis, several times a week, and they feel like family to me now. Being able to be at work and have such a wide range of friends, customers, and wonderful employees — it’s really satisfying to the soul to enjoy so much of that.

What do you like about food?

Michelle: What’s not to like?!? I love Italian food and the diversity of recipes. I like exploring different types of food since there’s always something new to learn. I also really love the alchemy of food and wine together. That’s what really got me passionate about the restaurant business – how that can be an art form essentially. When you have a server who can recommend the right wine with the right dish it elevates both of these experiences. I feel like that’s what a great restaurant experience with what a great server does — helps you find those magical pairings that make everything better.

What’s your earliest memory of food or cooking?

Michelle: My earliest memory is probably my grandma making breakfast for me in the morning before school. Eggs, Canadian Bacon, Toast. Really simple but really satisfying.

What are you passionate about, other than your job and family?

Michelle: The city of Portland and all the amazing beauty plus the incredible food & bike culture happening here.

What’s your favorite Nel Centro menu item?

Michelle: Right now I’m addicted to chef John’s Spaghetti with the Dungeness Crab. That dish is very simple but all the components work together so well that if you leave one of them off the dish isn’t the same. Those Bottarga breadcrumbs just take the dish to a whole new level.

What’s your favorite cocktail?

Michelle: A Negroni, I tend to like bitter, intense flavors so anything along those flavor profiles I really enjoy.

What one word describes Nel Centro to you?

Michelle: Vibrant

Peek inside the former Red Lion hotel before its big boutique reveal

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Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 10:22am PDT
by Jon Bell
Portland Business Journal

PBJ.4.17

Just a few months ago, almost any vantage point from inside the former Red Lion Hotel on Northeast Grand Avenue offered expansive views of the city in just about every direction.

The reason: the 1960s-era hotel had been gutted and stripped down to its steel and concrete skeleton as part of a $10 million remake.

“It was just columns and concrete floors and ceilings, and we took everything else out in between,” said Desmond Mollendor, general manager and a partner with Grand Ventures Hotel LLC, the firm behind the renovation. “You could see right through the building.”

With just a few weeks to go before the hotel reopens on May 5 as the Hotel Eastlund, that’s not the case any longer. The 168-room hotel has been nearly built anew, with a much more pedestrian-friendly setup, revamped rooms and meeting spaces and two new restaurants from Portland’s David Machado.

No longer can one see right through the building, but the hotel still offers commanding vistas of the downtown skyline, the booming Lloyd District and even an occasional peek at Mt. St. Helens.

The roughly nine-month renovation, led by S.D. Deacon, is expected to wrap up in time for a May 5 opening. The hotel has already begun taking reservations, with rooms starting at $189 per night. When it opens, the Eastlund will employ about 65 staff members. The two restaurants will have between 80 and 85 employees, according to Mollendor.

Read the entire article and view the gallery of photos here>>