McMenamin's Crystal Hotel

Although the following article mentions that the McMenamins' plan to build a hotel downtown amid their current holdings "was announced with great fanfare," I totally missed it. Therefore, it is with due fanfare that I pass along the following news:

McMenamins Hotels, Pubs & Breweries secured a permit from the city of Portland on July 20 to proceed with its Crystal Hotel project at 303 S.W. 12th Ave., a former bath house, hotel and reputed gangster hangout that has been empty for about two years.

The hotel, slated to open this winter, will link with two McMenamins facilities in the neighborhood, Ringlers Annex Pub and the Crystal Ballroom. It also promises to connect the neighborhood with the Brewery Blocks to the north.

There doesn't seem to be any info about whether the McBrothers will be brewing on-site, but I hope so. It would return brewing to downtown, where it flourished for 140+ years when the Weinhard Brewery was just across the street. I would love to get a whiff of boiling wort as I toddle into Powell's again. This is what they do mention:

The company will commemorate, through original artwork and historic photographs, the property's evolution from pioneer residence to a tire shop along the city's original Auto Row to a live jazz club to—most recently and significantly—part of Portland's gay triangle.

Whole article's worth a read. (Hat tip to John Foyston.)