The Roasting Plant now open inside the First National Building

The Roasting Plant is now open inside the First National Building. The space has been totally re-designed from previous tenants (bars The Vine and Enoteca) to accommodate the café setting and their much-buzzed-about high-tech Javabot system, designed to ensure the freshest cup of coffee possible.
 
This downtown Detroit location is a third location for the company, but the first outside of Manhattan. Elizabeth Rose, Co-Owner of the Roasting Plant, is a native Detroiter who was living in San Diego but got involved with the Roasting Plant in Manhattan and had been planning on moving there when Detroit came calling.
 
"The biggest reason (for opening in Detroit) is the investment and commitment that Dan Gilbert and his family of companies have shown in the downtown area of Detroit," she says. Gilbert was shown a video of their Javabot system and thought it would be a good pairing with the burgeoning Detroit tech scene.
 
The company was looking for a third location but Detroit had not been on their radar until they were approached by Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services. Rose was shown around the Madison, Compuware, and Chase buildings so she could get a sense of the company’s investment and long-term commitment to the area, then was offered the space inside the First National Building overlooking Campus Martius Park.
 
"It was a no-brainer," she says, citing the prime location and recalling fond childhood memories of running around that very same building as a child when her father worked there.
 
As a native Detroiter, Rose understood the opportunity Detroit presented and the underserved market the company would be tapping into. They ran the numbers, saw the potential, and signed a seven-year lease. "I don’t think you could have a better location down here. It’s not a location we want to give up. We’re here for the long haul."
 
Rose says this location is already busier than either of the Manhattan stores.
 
Source: Elizabeth Rose, Co-Owner of the Roasting Plant Inc.
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg

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