BUILDING SALEM: The Forge, latest major downtown investment, nears opening
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Building Salem is a regular feature from Salem Reporter intended to highlight planned building projects around the city. Is there a building going up or demolition underway you’re curious about? Let us know by emailing [email protected].
Name: The Forge
Project type: Renovation, retail and commercial
Location: 285 Liberty St. N.E. (Downtown Salem)
The need: The revamped building is the first among several major projects planned for north downtown, which has seen a large number of retail vacancies in recent years.
Cost: $8 million
Size: 73,000 square feet
Estimated completion: Planned second floor opening April 1
The “best women’s bathroom in Salem” — alongside several new restaurants, beauty-focused businesses and more — is nearing completion.
After nearly a year of renovations, The Forge’s second floor — a collection of women-owned businesses including salons and estheticians — will open April 1.
Other spaces in the building are still being leased or renovated, but the finished project is expected to feature a French restaurant, a bourbon club and underground event venue.
AJ Nash, a principal broker with Tradition REP and part of the development team, said they’ve intentionally moved slower on leasing to make sure there’s a good mix of businesses.
“The best long-term result for Salem and the investors is to not get too antsy, to not get impatient at the finish line, and to intentionally curate the best environment for north downtown,” Nash said.
The second floor is home to a much talked-about bathroom, which will include a water feature, lounge furniture and other details intended to make it perfect for selfies.
“Some fancy chandeliers, just something a little bougie in Salem,” Nash said.
A standard women’s and men’s restroom are also on the floor, for people who don’t want the full Instagrammable experience.
It’s adjacent to Clink!, a French-American restaurant which Nash’s wife, Sheena, is heading up. The bistro will have private event spaces and is intended to be a place for women to connect. It’s due to open in June 2025.
Investors hope The Collective, as the second floor is termed, will function as a public living room of sorts, where groups of friends can comfortably spend the day.
“We’re really trying to build a culture on that second floor of collaboration of female-owned businesses that you know are going to be able to complement one another,” said Nat Borchers, an investor and consultant, who owns the 45th Parallel building in north Salem.
The top floor, leased by accounting firm Anthem, opened in late 2024.
Other businesses will continue opening within The Forge as renovations and leases are completed.
January 2025 building statistics from the city of Salem
New multifamily building permits issued: 0
Total multifamily building permits issued since July 2024: 40 permits for 582 units
New home permits issued: 28 permits, including 4 duplexes
Total new home permits since July 2024: 172
New commercial and industrial permits issued: 3
Total new commercial and industrial permits permits issued since July 2024: 48
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
