Portland-based Western Culinary Institute makes a deal for more space

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Feb 9, 2004 by Aimee Curl

Just a few short months after Western Culinary Institute settled into its new home at the historic Galleria, the Portland-based school is looking to expand into more than 15,000 square feet of additional space.

The culinary school inked a deal last year for 65,000 square feet, including the building's entire fifth floor, most of the fourth floor and about 5,000 square feet on the ground floor.

The additional space would give the school the entire fourth floor - enough room for another baking and pastry kitchen, a classroom, a large student-services center and a smattering of administrative offices, said Eric Stromquist, the institute's vice president of academic affairs.

He said the culinary school loves its new digs and the central location (on Southwest Morrison Street between Ninth and 10th avenues).

We feel like it's home, he said. We were on the fringe, on the West End, but we very much have a downtown identity, so it's good for us and good for our students to be here.

Students at the Western Culinary Institute aren't the only ones bringing life to the Galleria these days. The Portland-area chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association held their annual gala in the cavernous building last week.

Close to 300 BOMA members showed up to roam the first two floors of the building; sample fare created by the institute's students; and tour the tile-floored, stainless-steel-topped kitchen classrooms.

Scott Weigel, director of properties services for Naito Corp., said this is the first time the building has been rented to an outside group for an event since the renovations. He said the owners would love to see more gatherings such as BOMA's held at the Galleria.

Weigel said Western Culinary Institute's presence in the building has helped put it back on the map.

With the culinary school's move, organizations like BOMA and others have realized there's new life and activity in the building, which has generated a lot of interest, he said.

Including the planned expansion by the culinary school, the 152,000-square-foot Galleria will be 86 percent leased.

The fact that they need additional space so quickly reaffirms that this was really a good location for them, Weigel said.

He said Naito Corp. is in negotiations with a couple of restaurants for the building's ground floor. In addition to restaurants, Weigel said the Galleria's ground floor is also being marketed to high-end, dry goods stores.

He said the owners are also actively marketing the building's second floor.

We think it makes sense for retail and would like to find a single use for the second floor. We think we can attract a discount apparel store, Weigel said.

As part of recent renovations to the building, more than 2,000 square feet was added to both the second and third floors to increase the amount of rentable space. This was accomplished by filling in some of the Galleria's hollow, inner atrium.

The third floor has a variety of tenants, including Kaplan Learning Center and Oregon Children's Theater.

We would like to get other types of trade schools on the third floor, Weigel said.

Stromquist said he'd like to see the addition of businesses that are complementary to the culinary school.

To have some businesses that would add to the synergy of the building would be great in our perspective, he said.

Stromquist said the institute's restaurant, Bleu, and its coffee shop, Cafe Bleu, have had success on the Galleria's first floor.

Our restaurant has always been pretty much full, he said, but the Galleria is a better location than where we were before (1316 S.W. 13th Ave.). We're seeing more drop-in customers downtown.

The institute hopes to be settled into its additional space by July.