Typhoon!, a popular Portland-based Thai restaurant, is expected to open in downtown Bend by July 1, the restaurant’s operators announced Wednesday.

Stephen Kline, managing director of Typhoon!, finalized the deal two weeks ago for two restaurant spaces in Franklin Crossing, the new five-story, mixed-use building on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Bond Street.

Typhoon! will occupy roughly 4,500 square feet in the northwest corner of the building, facing Bond Street, and will hold about 140 seats.

The second restaurant, also operated by Typhoon! owners, will be Bo Restobar, a casual lounge featuring Pan-Asian cuisine.

Bo Restobar will occupy about 1,500 square feet at the southeast side of the building and will hold about 60 seats, Kline said.

Kline and his wife, Bo, opened their first Typhoon! in Portland in 1995.

The Bend site will be the most inland Typhoon! franchise in the Northwest. The chain’s six other Typhoon! restaurants are in the Portland and Seattle areas, Kline said. One other Bo Restobar exists in Portland.

The restaurants will employ 35 to 40 people and are the two main eateries planned for Franklin Crossing, said developer Patrick Oliver of Oliver Commercial Group.

The restaurants are leasing space monthly for $2.60 per square foot, he added.

Kline said he and his family have been visiting Bend for years and always wanted to open a restaurant in the heart of town.

Cascade Village Shopping Center and the Old Mill District also sought Typhoon!, Kline said.

”We have always been in love with downtown Bend,” Kline said. ”Our hearts are in downtown right now.”

Chuck Arnold, director for the Bend Downtowners Association, said the new restaurant is a welcome addition after almost two years of construction on Franklin Crossing, a mixed-use building designed for offices, restaurants, stores and condominiums.

”Having retail on the street level – active in that portion of downtown on Franklin and Bond – will be a way to really generate activity for the businesses on Bond that have really suffered due to a lot of construction the last couple of years,” Arnold said. ”The increased foot traffic will be great.”

Downtown Bend has room for more restaurants, Arnold added, and the dining variety is good for residents and tourists.

”I think it works, (all the restaurants) will complement each other,” he said. ”It won’t take the dollars out.”

Another Asian restaurant downtown, Toomie’s, serves Thai food on Northwest Minnesota Avenue.

Additionally, the owner and chef of Merenda plans to open a modern Japanese restaurant, Deep, on Northwest Wall Street in early April.

Both Toomie’s and Deep owners welcome the addition of Typhoon! to downtown’s Asian-cuisine options.

”I think that with any other restaurant, it gives people more choices for (dining) in this town,” Toomie’s owner Pantip Toomie Staver said through an interpreter.

Kline agrees that Bend diners have a taste for a wide variety of fine foods.

”I think all restaurants help each other,” Kline said. ”Bend is a very sophisticated market – it’s not like we’re bringing Bend something they’ve never seen. I think we’ll do very well.”

Bend resident Seth Sherman ate at Typhoon! in Portland and has high praise for it. Sherman will be the manager for the restaurant’s neighboring tenant, Dolce Vita.

”I’ll probably go there every night,” Sherman joked. ”I think it’s excellent food – its mix of flavors is great.”

When Franklin Crossing is completely leased out, its tenants will include: Morgan Stanley; U.S. Bank; Community First Bank; Downtown Athletic Club of Bend; Aliza’s Closet, an independent children’s clothing store; Dolce Vita, a Portland Pearl District store offering luxury skin-care and cosmetics and some high-end clothing brands like Prada; Cascade Capital Partners; and Tetherow, a four-star resort and spa.