Crux Sells Bend Property, Remains as Tenants

Crux Fermentation Project found a buyer for its Bend property after listing it for sale about a year ago. The sale of the property included a guaranteed leaseback to Crux to operate for the foreseeable future.

The property, purchased by Pacific Foods of Oregon cofounder Jonathan Gehrs and daughter Molly Hummel, includes 1.57 acres of land and the 8,816-square-foot taproom and restaurant.

The sale was for the property alone, not including the Crux company.
The sale will help Crux free up funds to continue investing in its popular nonalcoholic beer and reinvest in the company in other ways, including improvements at its production facility in northeast Bend and in their employees, a spokesperson said.

“We have no plans to close the pub at all here in Bend. We have a five-year lease right now, and the dream is to continue that. This actually just allowed us a little bit more freedom to be able to reinvest in the business,” said Ashley Picerno, marketing and branding manager at Crux Fermentation Project.

Crux, which first opened its Bend tasting room in 2012, originally listed the property with the intention of leasing it back from the new owners. The taproom was initially listed for $5.5 million. According to property records, Gehrs and Hummel purchased the property for $4,400,000.

In April, Crux said the sale will reinforce its current growth, allowing the brewery to continue investing in new products including its expanding portfolio of nonalcoholic and unique craft beers.

“One thing that we’re really stoked on is the 401(k) program that we were able to launch out of all of this for our employees. They’ve been very thrilled about that, for us to be able to help them invest in their own futures as well,” Picerno told the Source.

According to The New School, a beer and cider blog, Crux’s original copper brewhouse was relocated to its off-site production facility last week to allow for two new retail tenants to lease out space inside the taproom. This means Crux could be sharing its location with other businesses in the near future.

“We’re actually really excited to maybe have a new business or two next door that might bring some more to our little campus and help give some of our customers more things to kind of check out and explore when they come visit us as well,” Picerno said.

In addition to Crux’s changes at its Bend location, the company’s Portland location, which opened in June 2023, is set to close. The Portland location, which offered a full-service restaurant and taproom, will close on March 30.

This article appears in The Source Weekly March 27, 2025.