LONGVIEW — There’s a new view of the famous Kalama totem poles taking shape — from the top of the future McMenamins hotel. Restaurant and hotel visitors will be able to soak up the waterfront sites from the rooftop brewpub at the new $10 million hotel.
Now called the “Kalama Harbor Lodge,” the four-story hotel, restaurant and brewpub is slated to open on the Columbia River in the spring.
“Things are going great at Kalama, and construction is moving along quickly,” said Renee Rank-Ignacio, marketing director for McMenamins.
Under an updated state law, the Port of Kalama can build the shell of the hotel and restaurant, and McMenamins contractors will complete the final design touches and customizations. The port will recover construction costs through its lease with the company. Between the port’s and the company’s initial investments, the final price tag could be $9 million to $10 million.
Port of Kalama’s contractor, JH Kelly, expects to complete its work by early 2018. Parking, curbs and the fourth-floor framing is complete, and passers-by will notice that contractors are installing windows and doors. Already, McMenamins’ contractors with Pacific Crest Construction are beginning work inside the building.
The Harbor Lodge will have a tropical theme that reflects Kalama’s Hawaiian historical connections and the McMenamin brothers own fascination with Hawaiian culture. The building’s design itself was inspired by the Pioneer Inn in Maui with architectural components of an 1870s Northern Pacific Railway hospital in Kalama.
Portland-based Bamboo Craftsman is assembling a tropics-inspired bar with wood salvaged from radio telegraph poles. Owner Troy Susan has previously worked on building a tiki bar at McMenamins’ Anderson School in Bothell, so company representatives said it was a natural fit to hire Susan to complete work here.
In addition to the main hotel-restaurant structure, McMenamins is building what it calls a “small bar,” or a log-cabin-style pub, at the end of a walking path along the river at Ahles Point. There, customers can warm up with a hot meal, potentially a fireplace or a mug of ale, according to the company.
Kalama-based Mountain Homes constructed the log cabin, and a cedar shake roof will be installed this week, port spokeswoman Liz Newman said.
The 30,000-square-foot Harbor Lodge will have 40 rooms. The first floor will have a brewery, restaurant/pub and bottle shop, and a meeting/banquet space.
Portland-based McMenamins operates 55 pub and hotel locations throughout the Northwest. It has a reputation for restoring old buildings, but the Kalama project won’t be its first new facility. Its waterfront restaurant in Vancouver was a new building, too.
