According to a recent permit filing, The Cedars Public House will soon open its doors in Brush Prairie, located at 15001 NE 181st Street.
“We will be having our opening rollout in tiers, and we are currently investing heavily in the marketing side with revitalization. The building for The Cedars Public House has been considered an iconic building for over 30 years. Considering that, our goal opening date will be sometime in April, likely on April 15th, 2024 for the full restaurant and bar,” one of the owners of The Cedars, Jennifer “Jen” Chadwick, told What Now Portland.
“Four of us went into the venture, with Ryan and I being a husband and wife team, and we partnered up with Ryan’s parents Everett and Jolene, making us all the four owners. Everett and Jolene live in Madison, Wisconsin, and Everett relocated out here. He is more on the project management end of things.”
“I have a private contractor background, and Everett has been a general contractor in three different states, so we have been big facilitators in getting structure elements done. We’ve been hiring contractors for big things or with things we don’t have experience in otherwise, but we’ve been renovating the elements of the building that are outdated. Come next spring and summer, we will be taking on the task of implementing new outdoor greenery, too.”
“We want to push out into the Vancouver and Portland areas eventually too. Our goal is to create a space that has a fun feeling of “getting away”. Everything on the first floor will have been open prior to the April date with the pub and “light” food service, more kind of deli-style for the food service. We will also have a coffee shop, event space, and a gift shop, to name just a few things our 22,000 square feet of space will offer.”
“The name is a throwback to the origins of the pub, with the connotation being something a bit more community-orientated. We want to have the space for the community to land and connect more long form. We will also be having throwback elements with the aesthetic, essentially being a light art deco feel. It will also have early-century, art nouveau, and mid-century modern elements.”
“The entire property is The Cedar Public House, the restaurant and bar will be called Speakeasy Pub, the coffee shop will be The Gilden Bean, and the gift shop Dandy’s Parlor, but the names are still a work in progress. Overall, all of the spaces are meant to have the feeling of being lush and opulent. It will be classy but comfortable, as we definitely don’t want it to be pretentious, it’s more of a well-produced, high-end city room. There will be brass metals and copper, furs, and velvet, and lots of plants spread throughout.”
“We have two full stories of space, plus another loft space where guest rooms are, and have pockets of lounge and sitting areas. We want to have playful and quirky touches that we add on, which we will roll out after the initial phase of opening. An example of that will be quirky surprises and geo caches, hidden treasures behind the paintings, and murals that if you know what to look for, will have a black light button with another secret mirror once you press the button. Essentially, just a lot of fun “easter egg” touches over time.”
“The gift shop itself is meant to read as more of a maximalist feel where everything is for sale. It will have a small bodega with some basic groceries. The loft space will have three guest suites, one bedroom and one bath structure, with a shared kitchenette and half bath, that is connected to the building but is still separate from the main building on the second floor. There’s also a large ballroom and/or event space. When you walk into the front door, you can go straight into the ballroom or you can take a right to go inside the restaurant and pub. The ballroom will be for events of all sizes and will be up and running by April.”
“On top of all of the other awesome things we have in store for The Cedars Public House, we will also have outdoor dining space as well that will be year-round. It will have fire tables and heaters and other things, with warmer weather seasons there’s a big outdoor patio where we plan to host live music,” Ryan Chadwick, another owner of The Cedars Public House, added.
“For the ballroom and event space, we’re currently looking into having the option of a regular live swing band/ballroom dance event that would be quarterly. We might even have ballroom lessons during the week,” Jennifer excitedly stated.
“Our basement is huge and we haven’t even begun to really touch it as of yet, and we won’t likely start that part of the project until year two, but it is currently under construction. The basement will have two to three living room theatres, where you can get a meal, an adult beverage, and watch a movie. It will fit approximately 14-16 people and will be small, but cozy and well-decked out. The other half of the basement will provide a full-service day spa, a couple of soaking pools, and a sauna. There was a locker room in the past, so we already have the hot tub.”
“Our backyard is 2.69 acres, and that will be the outdoor event space. We are building a pavilion back there, and the rest of it will be garden space. It will be another spot with fire pit areas to hang out,” Ryan stated.
