Crux Returns to South Austin with Taller Walls, Outdoor Space, and a Wellness Room

A climber bouldering at the new Crux South Austin gym — Crux Climbing Center, a gym chain founded by local Austin climbers in 2016, returned to South Austin last month, hosting a grand opening event on the 30th alongside its annual “Come and Send It Fest.” (All photos are by Merrick Ales, courtesy of Crux Climbing Center)

Crux Climbing Center
Austin, Texas

Specs: On May 4^th, Crux Climbing Center opened its new South Austin facility, marking its return to the district after a year-and-a-half hiatus. Crux opened its original location in South Austin off Pickle Road in 2016 and began to invest heavily in the city’s community, Crux Owner and CEO Kevin Goradia said. According to Goradia, Crux opted to go deep rather than wide, expanding to Central Austin in 2020 and then Pflugerville, a city northeast of Austin, in 2024. So, when Crux began having leasing issues with the original South Austin location landlord, Goradia said he bought a plot of land “as an insurance policy,” about two years before the original location closed. “We didn’t move forward with our project until we knew for a fact that we would not be continuing on with Crux South,” Goradia recalled. He felt a responsibility to maintain a presence in the community that helped establish Crux, as the team “knew how much the South Austin gym meant to the community,” and he noted the new facility represents a continuation of Crux’s roots rather than a move into a new market.

Proximity to the original South Austin gym was a primary consideration when Goradia began looking for land, because the team wanted to minimize disruption for longtime members and staff who lived nearby. At the same time, “Austin’s a pretty hot city,” Goradia explained, referring to the city’s development. “So, anytime you find an empty plot of land in a certain area, it’s going to get snatched up.” The team sought out a location “within a five-to-ten-mile radius [of the original location], but also something big enough where we could house a bigger gym, have a bigger parking lot,” Goradia continued, citing limited parking as a challenge with the first gym. The four-acre plot of land, a former automotive salvage yard, was “frankly the only thing that we found” that fit Crux’s parameters for a location, Goradia stated, and is less than ten minutes away from the original gym.

Part of the "rope canyon" at the new gym — The 48-foot rope walls at the new gym are nearly 20 feet taller than the walls at Crux’s original South location and form a “rope canyon” of sorts, in Goradia’s words. “If you were standing in the middle and did a 360-degree turn, you would be surrounded by roped walls,” he explained.

Crux South Austin was built entirely from the ground up and was designed as a mixed-use property rather than a standalone climbing gym. While Crux occupies a majority of the site, “it didn’t really make sense to buy four acres and just build Crux on it,” Goradia stated. The property features an upstairs office that Crux is leasing out, as well as an outdoor plaza with a food truck operated by Granny’s Tacos, and Switchback Coffee and Beer, a business owned by Crux Co-Owner Grace Nicholas and her husband, Ethan Wagner. “We’ve learned that coffee, food, beer, all of that’s what our members expect,” Goradia said. “I can’t imagine building another gym without those components to it.”

The 35,672-square-foot facility features 22,000 square feet of climbing wall surface, split among 48-foot rope walls, boulders, a mirrored Tension Board 2, a Kilter Board, a Moon Board and a 40-degree spray wall. One of the bouldering walls inside the gym is the competition wall, which was transported from the Pickle Road location and has modifiable wall angles. “It’s great for competition so nobody has a hometown leg up,” Goradia said. “It’s also great for our clientele because they’re essentially getting a new, fresh wall every year.” The wall angles can be changed and reassembled in about two days, which Crux does annually in May before its Come and Send It Fest. The gym also offers non-climbing amenities, such as strength training, fitness and yoga spaces; remote work pods, which members can reserve free of charge; and a wellness space for recovery services. “The way we look at it is our consumer has everything they need in one building,” Goradia stated. Crux will continue to host member appreciation events, summer camps and competitions in its new space.

A fitness area at Crux South Austin — The new facility has a wellness room for independent practitioners, who can offer services such as physical therapy, massages and dry needling. Goradia said this arrangement provides flexibility for both the providers and gym members.

Crux has plans to open a facility in Houston later this year, after intentionally spending years building gyms in Austin. Goradia said he prioritized “earning the trust of the community” in Austin before moving into a new city and believes gym operators should fully serve their home market before expanding elsewhere. He also said it has been important for him to spend time and climb in the Crux gyms because he wants members “to know that the owners of that establishment care,” which he said has helped build trust with Crux members and allowed them to give direct feedback. “I never really had it in my head to be the biggest gym owner in the United States,” Goradia said. “For me, it was more important to be a good business owner in my city. This is where I live. This is where I sleep. This is where I eat. So, to me, it was always more important to build a business that Austin was proud of.”

Walls: Vertical Solutions
Flooring: Habit
CRM Software: Approach
Website: www.cruxclimbingcenter.com/south-austin/
Instagram: @CruxCC

In Their Words: “Patience is a big thing for me. I’ve had the opportunity to learn from a lot of good business owners not in climbing, and the one thing [they advise] is just patience. So, you need time, and you need data to really know where you want to go.” – Kevin Goradia, Owner and CEO of Crux Climbing Center