Designs for James Beard Public Market Approved (images)

Construction on the James Beard Public Market is moving forward in downtown Portland. Designed by BCV Architecture + Interiors, Colab Architecture + Urban Design, and Humber Design Group, the new market is planned to include a restaurant, cookbook store, teaching kitchen, common space for community events, food vendors, common seating areas, and a rooftop bar with covered seating.

The James Beard Public Market will occupy two adjacent buildings. At 622 SW Alder St (the Ungar Building), the market will use both stories, the basement, and the roof. A Rite Aid was previously located in this building.

At 610 SW Alder St, on the southwest corner of the intersection of SW 6th Ave and SW Alder St, the market will use the ground floor of the 12-story Selling Building where there was previously a Payless ShoeSource location and another entrance to the Rite Aid. Built in 1910, the Selling Building is a designated Historic Landmark.

The site for the market is located in close proximity to Pioneer Courthouse Square, Director Park, Darcelle XV Plaza, Flock food hall, and Midtown Beer Garden.

The facade of the first two stories of the Selling Building and the entire facade of the Ungar Building will be rebuilt to provide entrances to the market and present a cohesive visual appearance.

Ungar Building (622 SW Alder St)

The renovation of the Ungar Building will feature timber columns, beams, and solid wood floors from earlier incarnations of the building. The facade will include bird-safe glass, mass timber, painted steel structure, fiber cement siding, cast-in-place concrete, and a large semicircular sign with illuminated letters.

*View from SW Alder St (Selling Building left, Ungar Building right)*

*Ungar Building entrance from SW Alder St*

Selling Building (610 SW Alder St)

Materials for the facade of the first two floors of the Selling Building will include polished black stone columns at street level, terra cotta cladding on the second floor, black back-painted glass with bronze decorative trim and metal letters, architectural glass fiber reinforced concrete, metal doors, wood windows, and fabric awnings. The new facade will maintain the existing storefront for Spella Caffe.

The site will include four short-term bicycle parking spaces. Additional long-term bicycle parking lockers will be located on the 3rd floor of the nearby Alder Street Parking Garage.

*Nighttime view of Selling Building from SW Alder St*

*Nighttime view of Selling Building from SW 6th Ave*

The James Beard Public Market received Design Review approval on February 19, 2026 for 622 SW Alder Street (Ungar Building) and Landmarks Commission approval of the Historic Resource Review for 610 SW Alder Street (Selling Building) on April 6, 2026. The case files are located here and here. A member of the Historic Landmarks Commission noted:

I am just really so happy to see this. I just feel like it’s worth taking a minute to recognize how this wonderful old building and its restoration is going to breathe much-needed life into our downtown. And it’s hopefully one of many more. […] It’s very respectful, it’s fresh at the same time as it is historic and I think it is also this wonderful example of the forward looking-ness of our work in preservation, that this isn’t about the past, it’s about the future.

The James Beard Public Market is planned to open in early 2027.