Wayfinder Beer opened its doors October of 2016 to Portland’s dynamic Central Eastside neighborhood. The 10,000-square-foot century old former industrial warehouse transition into a brewery was cultivated through the visions of three owners of a handful of successful Portland original breweries and restaurants. The main entry along SE 2nd Avenue elevates the patron onto the 2,000-square-foot wooden exterior seating deck. The cedar deck fits snug into the pocket shaped by the existing buildings edges and gives the raised outdoor seating a buffer between the street.
Visual connection between the exterior deck, bar and brewhouse was the main goal behind the adaptive reuse of the three existing buildings to one unified place that is Wayfinder. A full bar stretches along the length of the main wall, accentuated by blackened steel and perforated metal panels. A secondary seating room is situated immediately adjacent to the brewhouse kettles behind a glass wall to better connect the patrons to the brewing process. The interior aesthetic is sustained through the original exposed brick walls and wooden ceiling joists that encompass the bar, restaurant and brewhouse.