Crux Fermentation Project of Bend will open its first satellite location ever — a pub in the Southeast Portland space abandoned last summer by Vagabond Brewing, which closed during the pandemic. Marketing Director Jason Randles on Monday told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Crux had signed and finalized a lease for the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood space at 2715 S. E. 8th Ave. , Suite 172. The building was originally part of the Darigold dairy complex. “We’re moving forward with it and are on our way,” Randles said. “It’s pretty much ready for us to move into. We just have to put our Crux touch on the inside and add our logos here and there. ” Randles said Crux anticipates opening the location, which it will call the Crux Portland Pub, by early summer. He said the Crux team had been looking for a second location for the past five years but the pandemic put those plans on hold. “We’re just really excited to get to our No. 1 market and have a presence there and make all of our beer and wine and cider and whiskey available there in Portland,” Randles said. He said moving into a “turnkey situation” in Portland, where the facilities were near ready to go, was a big plus, and the Crux team liked the location as well. The area has become a popular craft-beer destination, with nearby spots including The BeerMongers, Apex Bar, Baerlic Brewing, Chuckanut’s P. Nut Beer Hall and Ground Breaker Brewing. A popular bike path also runs nearby, and a MAX light-rail stop and OMSI are within walking distance. It has ample onsite parking as well, Randles said. Crux will make use of the full kitchen and dining areas Vagabond built and left behind in the 6,800-square-foot space. “We crank out some great food out of our tiny kitchen in Bend, but we’re looking forward to having a full kitchen and developing a food program,” he said, adding that a particular style of cuisine has not been decided yet. “We’re going to begin the hiring process and figure all that out. ” Crux plans to have slightly less than 100 seats inside, plus it will add a deck for more seating outside. Randles said having a Portland location would allow the brewery to bring beers to the metro area that previously have been exclusive to the Bend taproom. “We do a lot of tasting-room-only stuff that doesn’t leave Bend, so we’ll be able to make those things available at the Portland location,” he said. “Like this week we launched our 2023 version of Freakcake Barrel-Aged Oud Bruin, and we recently canned Pre-Pro Lager, and that was tasting-room only. So there’s just a few things that don’t make it out to market that will now come to Portland. ” Vagabond Brewing was founded in 2012 in Salem and grew to four locations, including the Southeast Portland pub, . But it abruptly closed all of its operations last summer without explanation as it struggled through the pandemic and faced a lawsuit accusing it of overserving a customer who then . Vagabond’s Portland location drew keen interest partly because it included a 1958 Cessna airplane perched on the upper deck overlooking the restaurant. But don’t expect to look up and see it at Crux — Randles said it would be disassembled and removed. “The plane is awesome and was a great part of the Vagabond plan — they had it as part of their logo,” he said. “But it was their thing and not ours, so it’ll be coming out. ” Randles said Vagabond also left behind some fermentation vessels, as it had plans to turn the facility into a brewery. Crux will open up without an operating brewhouse, Randles said, but the team hopes to add one in the future. Crux was founded in 2012 by former Deschutes Brewery brewmaster Larry Sidor, former Deschutes sales and marketing chief Dave Wilson, and then-partner Paul Evers. Sidor and Evers remain majority owners, though they are mostly retired and not involved in day-to-day operations. Cam O’Connor took over after Sidor’s departure as head brewer and is now managing director of the operation. Randles said he and the rest of the leadership team are “really excited about this” opening in Portland. “We’ve done popups at (Northwest Portland events space) Function PDX, and people keep asking us, when are you going to open up in Portland?” he said. “We hear that a lot, and now we finally get to give them a difference answer than, ‘Maybe someday. ’”.