Capitol Is Closed + Historic Buildings on Broadway

The Albers Broadway Building in Portland, OR — Photo credit: Loopnet

I’m often down along NE Broadway and the adjacent neighborhoods, whether I’m getting coffee, buying kitchen products, walking through gorgeous tree-heavy Irvington, or traveling through to get to NW Portland. For whatever reason, I hadn’t walked by Capitol in a while, and now I realized it has closed. This also means that the space is ready for a new tenant.

Permit Details

The location popped on my radar because of a recent permit filed (design review) about metal canopies for the building. The applicant for the permit “requests design review approval for three new metal canopies to be installed over entries to the building.” They—two on the north side, one on the east side—-will be made to match what is currently over the entrance to Pastini Pastaria. Apparently this design review is required “for non-exempt exterior alterations in the design overlay zone of the Central City Plan District.”

The entrance to Capitol is kind of on the corner, so I suspect the canopies will go over the entrances to Sushi Ohana and the empty storefront that used to be home to Benessere Olive Oils & Vinegars (which closed a while back), both on the north side. The other I suspect will go right around the corner from the Capitol entrance, located on 15th Avenue. My hope is that this means this space will be getting a new tenant.

Two Historic Buildings

While researching and reading up on this space, I learned some things. The building, called the historic Albers Broadway Building, was built in 1896. And it is across the street from the historic Olsen and Weygandt Building, built 1927, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. I am not sure why the Albers building isn’t, too, as it is older and contains interesting architectural details.

The Olsen and Weygandt building is home to businesses including Peet’s Coffee, Eb & Bean, and others. It was home to Bendito’s Latin Fusion, which has closed permanently.

Look at this beautiful ornament on the Albers building:

Ornament detail on the Albers Broadway Building in Portland, OR. — Photo credit: Ian Poellet on Wikimedia Commons

You may also know the name “Albers” from the Albers Brothers Milling Company building on the west side of the Broadway Bridge.

Capitol

Capitol, in its last incarnation, closed Sunday, April 14 of this year. The closing totally passed me by, so apologies for this very tardy news. The evidence of its closing is on Instagram user seeznin’s page (Samuel Thompson). I did not see much about its closing from the usual suspects.

It got some good attention over the years, first when Lightning Bar Collective ran it (check out these photos of the space then). It opened Friday, October 13, 2017. You can also see the kind of food and drinks they offered back then. It was a vegan menu, and while the food-to-price ratio was a topic of much criticism, people loved having a vegan bar to patronize.

Then COVID happened in spring 2019. The bar got new owners in fall 2020. Chef Kiara Hardy started cooking there in late 2020 (she later left) and added meat to the menu. In early 2022 Dessiree Guy became one of the new owners, making this a Black woman-owned business, fairly uncommon in the area.

But shortly after that a car crashed into the building, creating a lot of damage and forced Capitol to close. Then in June 2022 co-owner Kevin McDowell died after trying to save the life of a struggling swimmer in the Columbia River. Kevin was also Dessiree Guy’s life partner, and the loss was crushing.

Capitol reopened in March 2023 (Ashley Frankie was cooking in the kitchen at that point) after a year of repairs. Unfortunately there was a drive-by shooting nearby this past March. But owner Guy says to those who link the violence with the shuttering are incorrect. “We’re not being forced to close. We made the decision to close,” she explained. I sure feel for her and all the challenges she faced. It could not have been easy. Hat’s off to her perseverance and strength, and knowing when to say goodbye.

What’s Next?

And so the space remains vacant, at least for now. My hope is that a great tenant will lease the space and offer something appealing to the neighborhood. Do you know what’s going on in that space? Send me an email with your tips.

Historic Albers Broadway Building
Former home to Capitol Bar & Lounge [closed April 2024]
1440 NE Broadway, Portland