Not sure exactly what you are looking for in a commuter (ie drop bar monstercross or more cx bike), but I would take a look at On-One's offerings. They make decent frames. I have the swap-out dropout inbred, currently set up as a rigid SS with drops, but shortly it will have riser bars, a suspension fork, and gears for mountain biking this summer. Not as lively a ride as my Salsa Fargo, but it isn't bad, and the frame is usually sells for $2-300. They also have CX frames and more urban commuter-focused frames.

If you don't need discs and want more of a CX bike, the Pake C'mute comes to mind.