The house
Cast in 1912. Opened as a hotel in 2016.
Pacific Iron Works poured ship hardware on this floor for seventy-five years. Then the building sat. Then we put beds in it. Cinder is independently owned. The front desk is a person.
A short history with dates
Empty is also a date.
The foundry went up in 1912 for Pacific Iron Works, which made cleats, hawsepipes, and the unglamorous hardware that kept Columbia River hulls together. The last heat was 1987. From 1988 to 2014 the building was vacant: pigeons, a leaking monitor roof, and a historic overlay that made demolition more expensive than patience.
Conversion started in 2014. The hotel opened in 2016 with twenty-eight rooms and no kitchen of its own. Dana Peck, who had spent eight years as night manager at Ace Hotel Portland, took over as general manager in 2019. Marisol Vega opened The Charge in the charging ovens in 2020.
- 1912 Pacific Iron Works pours ship hardware on SE 3rd.
- 1987 Last heat. The crew goes home.
- 1988–2014 Vacant. The brick holds. The roof does not.
- 2014 Conversion begins. Historic commission arguments begin shortly after.
- 2016 Cinder opens: 28 rooms, a desk, no kitchen.
- 2019 Dana Peck takes over as GM.
- 2020 The Charge opens under Marisol Vega. Wed–Sun, 5:30–10.
Who answers
Two names you will actually meet
General manager
Dana Peck
Night manager at Ace Portland for eight years. Took Cinder in 2019 because the foundry already had the bones and needed someone who had worked a 3 a.m. desk without treating it like a brand exercise. If you call after midnight, there is a decent chance it is Dana, or someone Dana trained not to hide behind a night bell.
Chef, The Charge
Marisol Vega
Opened the kitchen in 2020. Wood-fired Pacific Northwest, a short card, closed Monday and Tuesday on purpose. She will tell you when the morels are gone. She will not invent a farm name to fill the silence. Parties of seven write [email protected].
What we kept
Brick, timber, a freight elevator that still works.
The historic commission won more arguments than we did, which is why the iron window frames are still iron and the pour-floor brick is still brick. The freight elevator is original. It is loud after 10. We say so on the Stay page and again at check-in if you booked Third Ave Queen.
We did not keep the asbestos, the pigeons, or the idea that a foundry should become a food hall. Twenty-eight rooms. A kitchen five nights. A lot on SE 3rd for $18. That is the inventory.
Press & the guest book
Four more notes
None of these were written by us.
Willamette Week · July 2024“Cinder is what happens when a foundry is allowed to remain a foundry. The rooms are better than the Instagram of them. The Charge’s trout is the reason to miss your 9pm MAX.”
Portland Monthly · March 2021“Marisol Vega’s first winter in the ovens: a short menu, a long oak fire, and the rare hotel kitchen that does not pretend it is in California. Closed Mondays. Good.”
TripAdvisor · April 2025“Foundry Suite for a three-night client trip. The nine-foot desk is not a joke. Dana remembered we needed a 5 a.m. cab two years later. That is either a CRM or a person. I think it is a person.”
Google · February 2026“Parked in the SE 3rd lot, $18, gated, fine. Orange Line from OMSI was easier than I wanted to admit. Room was Pattern Queen — timber wall, no street. Would skip Third Ave next time; the elevator is not subtle.”
The brick is still here. So is the desk.
If you want the long version of the conversion, Dana will talk about permits until you ask her to stop. If you want a room, the engine is faster.