After a public hearing the Troutdale City Council has approved the sale of their Old City Hall to Ent Venturex XIV who intends to lease it to Portland’s Away Days Brewing Co. for a 3-floor brewpub.

Away Days Brewing is a modern English Soccer Pub and brewery opened in inner southeast Portland in June 2019. It’s also the sister taproom of the Toffee Club, both owned by Niki Diamond and her husband Pete Hoppins. The intimate taproom showcases their mostly European ales with NW-style beers as well, and is known for their cask beer program with all brewing operations lead by Marshall Kunz.

“During the summer of 2021 we realized we needed more space for more beer production,” says Away Days co-owner Niki Diamond. We had already overloaded our small 5bbl system and we found ourselves saying no to opportunities because we couldn't keep up with our current capacity.” Good Coffee Roastery had just opened a roastery facility nearby in Troutdale, and owner Sam Purvis suggested that Diamond and Toppins check it out. After they visited the area and, toured the building, and met with various city council members and contractors they were sold. “A drive along the Gorge has always been our favourite day-trip, and we love the idea of building something that will encourage people to come and enjoy the area and make Troutdale a regular stop on their route.”

Away Days is not moving out of their main Portland pub, but is instead expanding into a new location with a bar and restaurant, beer garden, and a larger production brewery. In Portland, they have 1,500 sq ft. of space and operate on a small 5bbl brewhouse with 15bbl tanks, the expansion will allow them to feature their beers not only across town but on more tap handles and cans around the metro area. The plan is to stay small and self-distributed, and the original Portland brewhouse will be able to make more small and one-off batch beers.

Away Days Brewing Co. Troutdale will be a 3-floor location with a large beer hall on the top level and a large upper floor deck, with outside heating and sliding doors for an indoor / outdoor feel. It will feature a full liquor bar and kitchen with classic European dishes like Fish & Chips that their sister pub The Toffee Club is known for. In the basement there is room for a small speakeasy style bar. The first floor will be dedicated to a larger brewhouse (they are still shopping around for a system.)

The old Troutdale City Hall building was constructed in 1922 and has been vacant since 2012. City staff moved out of the building due to structural problems. After it was vacated, it’s future was the subject of intense public scrutiny. The City explored several options to restore the building, and saving the building was the subject of a failed bond levy in 2019.

Since 2012 vocal and passionate community groups have advocated for an old City Hall solution which would save the building. The 2020 City Council Priorities directed staff to explore options for the sale of old City Hall property to a developer, with hopes for some conditions and incentives being used to save the building.  As the City does not have the resources to save Old City Hall, this sale will lead to the preservation and restoration of the historic building as well as bring a successful brew pub and new dining option to downtown.

The City is providing significant development and permit credits to assist with the historic preservation and adaptive reuse renovation of the hundred-year-old building. Without this sale it is unlikely that the building would have been saved. The developer anticipates that the final restoration will preserve the historic look of the building.

Away Days and the developer are awaiting approval of the building permits before they have a have an idea how quickly the location will become operational, but Diamond says “We've got a pretty aggressive timeline to open before the end of this year to celebrate the building's 100 year anniversary.”