Literary Arts nonprofit to open new headquarters featuring its first bookstore

State of play: The building — a four-story, 14,000-foot former hardware store on SE Grand Avenue — was built in 1904 and served as a furniture store in the 1970s before it was renovated in 2018.

• It sat empty until Literary Arts purchased the building in 2022, looking to expand from its smaller space in Southwest Portland.
• After another redesign, the headquarters now represents the "largest literary center on the West Coast," the organization said in a news release.

Driving the news: Literary Arts will host a grand opening for the center, located at 716 SE Grand, on Dec. 7, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:15am.

Zoom in: The organization described the bookstore as "general interest," with some 12,000 titles on hand.

• The store will also have larger collections focused on design, architecture, poetry and the craft of writing.

What they're saying: The new headquarters will be named the Susan Hammer Center for the former Literary Arts board member who gave the organization $3 million to help buy the building.

• "Susan's gift, and the generosity of many other donors, enabled us to purchase the building outright, continuing our investment in Portland," Andrew Proctor, executive director of the organization, said in an emailed statement.

If you go: The store will be open from 10am-9pm daily.