Second Corvallis McMenamins will

be across the street from campus

McMenamins will open a second Corvallis pub this fall, but it won’t be on the Oregon State University campus.

It’ll be across the street instead.

The Portland-based company has leased 3,800 square feet in University Center, a mixed-use retail and apartment development at 2001 N.W. Monroe Ave.

Founded by OSU grads Brian and Mike McMenamin, the highly successful brewery, restaurant and hotel chain announced plans last spring to open a pub in the ground floor dining center at the new university parking structure across from Gill Coliseum.

But that proposal met some resistance on campus amid concerns about underage drinking. While those concerns were being addressed, cost overruns halted progress last summer on the parking structure’s food service complex, which remains unbuilt.

“Things were not all coming together there as hoped,” said Renee Rank, the marketing director for McMenamins. “This spot came open, and we decided to make a move.”

She said the company has no plans to close its existing Corvallis location at 420 N.W. Third St.

The new pub will seat 150 patrons and serve a pub-style menu featuring burgers, salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes, Rank said.

It will also pour Terminator Stout, Hammerhead Ale and the full range of microbrews McMenamins is known for, some of which will be brewed on site.

While a name has yet to be selected, Rank said the University Center brewpub will have much the same funky but homelike atmosphere as the rest of the chain’s 50-plus Northwest locations.

“It’ll be similar to our other pubs,” she said. “It will have lots of artwork and a warm and cozy feel.”

One thing it won’t have: movies.

Brian McMenamin had floated the possibility of screening movies at the planned campus brewpub, something McMenamins has done successfully in some other locales, but Rank said that won’t happen at the Monroe Avenue site.

She said construction workers will start finishing out the University Center space in June or July. Opening is planned for September, when students are returning to campus and the football season is getting under way.

“I think it’s going to work out really well for the building, the campus and the whole community,” said John Malosh, who manages University Center for the property’s owner, OSU Bookstore Inc.

The property’s other retail tenants include Sargo’s Subs, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Galore Department Store and a Dutch Bros. coffeehouse.

Meanwhile, the 30,000-square-foot dining center envisioned for the campus parking garage remains in limbo while OSU Housing & Dining Services grapples with unexpectedly high construction costs.

The complex was intended to replace Arnold Dining Center, an aging facility that serves about 900 dormitory residents on the south side of campus. Originally, it was to have several restaurants in addition to McMenamins and a small grocery store.

“We’re back pretty much into the design stage of trying to figure out what the best use of that space is going to be for us,” said Rich Turnbull, the department’s associate director of dining.

It now appears that the dining center will be scaled down substantially from the initial conception, perhaps down to around 15,000 square feet, Turnbull said. Instead of multiple restaurants, it will probably house an upscale grocery-deli operation along with a national- or regional-brand espresso bar, perhaps a Starbucks or a Peet’s Coffee.

“Once we get some cost estimates on what it would cost to build that out, we’ll have better idea of what it’s going to take for us to move forward with that project,” Turnbull said.

While he regrets that McMenamins won’t be part of the Housing & Dining project, he said, he thinks the University Center location makes sense as an alternative.

“It’s where they wanted to be — close to campus,” Turnbull said. “With our project on hold, it didn’t meet their timeline to get this done.”

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or

bennett.hall@lee.net.