Stark’s Block Adaptive Reuse

The Stark’s Block industrial building adaptive reuse project transformed an early 1920s structure, most recently used as a vacuum repair shop, into attractive storefront commercial space. The warehouse renovation rebranded the property. Exterior lighting and signage improvements augment previously obscured facades; sleek and modern entry canopies replace the building’s dated exterior finishes. A modest entry plaza, featuring a custom-designed mural and a new walkway, invites customers into Stark’s showroom. Newly reconfigured, the floor plan effectively orients customers to a service counter to promote exceptional customer service. Additional building upgrades include new restrooms and locker facilities, a bike room and shower area for employees, seismic upgrades, and parking lot improvements.

The old vacuum shop building was leased to a coffee and chocolate tasting room, with Hennebery Eddy designing the shell and core improvements and navigating the permit process to implement a safe space, roastery, and chocolate manufacturing facility conceived by the owner’s team. With a like-minded sense of entrepreneurship, Hennebery Eddy and the tenant worked to make a small-batch factory vision compatible with the existing bones of the old repair shop. Together, the team successfully rebranded the historic building into a rich addition to Portland’s Artisan Quarter.