Craft beer and artisanal eats are coming soon to shipping containers near you. If you live in Bixby Knolls.

It’s called SteelCraft, and the food court and beer garden will open in 10 shipping containers at Long Beach Boulevard and Bixby Road next spring, with eight vendors slated, including Long Beach Cup Ramen, Waffle Love and the Torrance-based Smog City Brewing.

“The idea is that we can open this type of eatery that’s invested in the community, and has really great food and great beer and great conversation, and it’s really exciting,” said Kim Gros, whom many are calling the mastermind behind a group of local foodies looking to create a communal space that caters to neighbors and draws out-of-towners. Gros, who grew up California Heights and lives in Bixby Knolls, said the project has been about three years in the making as developers looked at several locations around Long Beach. Bixby Knolls seemed like the perfect spot to blend a love of food and drink with the passion for community-building, she said.

“We knew we wanted to be in an area where people could walk from their homes,” Gros said. “I feel like the area is just beginning to develop. There’s breath being blown into it.”

SteelCraft is the fruit of several groups coming together, including DeMaria Design Associates, a Los Angeles-based architecture and design firm, Howard CDM construction in Long Beach and the Carson-based IPME — International Port Management Enterprise — which is fabricating the shipping containers.

Once the containers are ready, they will brought into Bixby Knolls and the kitchens will be installed.

City Fabrick, a nonprofit design studio based in Long Beach, is one of the key players involved with the project. Brian Ulaszewski, executive director of City Fabrick, said SteelCraft is a pop-up food hall using shipping containers arranged to create a series of outdoor spaces, including dining patios and flexible community space. The shipping containers are modified to accommodate restaurants, a taproom, produce stand, flower shop and restrooms.

“We’re thrilled what this project brings for Bixby Knolls as a social space, somewhere people can gather with friends and meet new people,” Ulaszewski said in an email. “The spaces were designed for a variety of social interactions and activities with the intention of this being something the community can emotionally take ownership of.”

Gros said the containers are a natural fit in the port city of Long Beach, and are the centerpiece of a project that speaks to the power of sustainability and restoration. But SteelCraft mainly is about people coming together and sharing stories over good food and drinks, she said.

A big catch was the family-run Smog City. Laurie Porter, head of marketing for Smog City, where her husband Jonathan Porter is brewmaster, said they had been looking for a satellite taproom location for about a year. They checked out downtown Los Angeles and Echo Park, among other spots.

“I really had this great feeling about it,” she said of Bixby Knolls and SteelCraft, adding that the project provides an opportunity to reach a neighborhood and local customer base.

“We knew with our satellite we wanted some options for food, but we didn’t want to do it ourselves,” she said. “This gave us an opportunity to marry our beer and other people’s food.”

Porter said customers can expect Smog City at SteelCraft to be staffed with beer ambassadors who have a passion for brew.

“They’re going to want to share our story,” she said.

Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, said SteelCraft is not only unique to the neighborhood, but also the city.

“It’s just great to have another significant center, especially along Long Beach Boulevard,“ Cohn said. “The whole neighborhood is going to be thrilled.”