The Hoxton hotel in Portland's Old Town Chinatown, shown on Oct. 29, 2018. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

A onetime eyesore next to Portland's Chinatown Gate reopens this month as the newest location for a trendy European hotel chain.

The Hoxton is the second U.S. location after one opened in the hip Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

That says much about this hotel's preferred niche. It's built for the Instagram generation; millennials are a significant and growing force in business and leisure travel.

The Hoxton, at 15 N.W. Fourth Ave., includes the original three-story Grove Hotel, which dates to 1907, but many of the larger guest rooms are in a nine-story addition, which includes a rooftop restaurant and a speakeasy-style basement bar.

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Lobby seating at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

The Hoxton bills itself as an "open-house" hotel, with locals encouraged to use the hotel's public areas, including its expansive lobby outfitted like a living room. It will also offer four meeting rooms, each with access to a snack pantry and kitchen. And the hotel chain often hosts public events; its opening week includes a Ground Kontrol video-game tournament and a Voodoo Doughnuts decorating workshop.

"It really becomes a space for locals and guests alike," said David Vialli, West Coast operations director for The Hoxton. "We really encourage people to come in here and set up shop."

The hotel's lobby restaurant, the "Mexican-inspired" La Neta, comes from the owners of Ava Gene's and Tusk. On the roof, the taqueria Tope will feature "the street food of Mexico City" alongside a mezcal-focused cocktail list.

More: Ava Gene's owners opening new downtown Portland restaurant

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A "cosy" sized room at The Hoxton averages 200 square feet. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

Guest rooms at the Hoxton run small compared to the industry average. The smallest, which the hotel calls a "Shoebox," is less than 120 square feet, with a twin-sized bed and space underneath for bags. Those rooms start at $100 a night. Larger rooms -- 200 square feet and up -- cost $200 to $350 a night.

"We're not budget," said Sharan Pasricha, founder and chief executive of The Hoxton's London-based parent company Ennismore, "but it's really about being accessible."

The hotel represents a significant construction project in Old Town Chinatown, a neighborhood that has long played host to an outsized share of social service agencies and homeless shelters. It's seen little private development in recent years, even as downtown and the Pearl District have boomed.

More: In Portland's Old Town Chinatown, a $57 million rebirth promise broken

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A "snug" sized room at The Hoxton averages 116 square feet. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

It's also a major turnaround for the Grove Hotel, a neighborhood eyesore that was acquired by Portland's housing authority in 2007. The housing authority briefly placed chronically homeless offenders released from jail there before selling the building to the Portland Development Commission in 2010.

The commission, the city's development arm now known as Prosper Portland, spent $2.5 million to acquire the blighted building and make repairs. It sold the building for $630,000 -- which the agency said was its appraised value -- in 2014 to a development group led by Bob Naito, which launched the hotel project.

The developers sued the city in 2017 to evict Right 2 Dream Too, the self-governed homeless camp that took up residence in a vacant lot next door. Months later, the camp moved to a site in the Rose Quarter.

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A view of the former Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp, which economic development agency Prosper Portland hopes to redevelop, from the top of The Hoxton hotel. The agency said a developer for the now vacant site could be identified next year. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

That Right 2 Dream Too site now might be headed for redevelopment. Prosper Portland says it expects to choose a developer for the now-vacant spot by June.

The hotel project's initial developers, meanwhile, sold it last year to Ennismore, whose executives were scouting Portland locations for a Hoxton hotel.

Pasricha said the hotel chain has made a practice of opening in neighborhoods about to take off. He said he feels Old Town Chinatown is changing for the better.

"I'd like to think that it's brands like ours that put a stake in the ground that help it on its way," he said.

The hotel officially opens Nov. 12.

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La Neta, the lobby restaurant at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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The lobby at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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Tope, the rooftop taqueria at The Hoxton hotel. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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The roof deck at The Hoxton hotel, off the rooftop Tope restaurant. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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A view of downtown Portland looking southeast from The Hoxton hotel's rooftop deck. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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The front desk at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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Proud Mary Coffee, whose main location is on Northeast Alberta Street, provides coffee service at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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A basement speakeasy-style bar at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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The Hoxton provides guests with pocket maps of Portland attractions and landmarks. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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The lobby at The Hoxton. (Elliot Njus/Staff)

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The sign for The Hoxton hotel in Portland's Old Town Chinatown. (Elliot Njus/Staff)