Starbucks announced that its next Roastery location will be in the Meatpacking District at 61 Ninth Avenue.
The coffee giant will occupy 20,000 s/f across the ground floor and lower level at the nine-story, 170,000 s/f building being developed by Vornado Realty Trust and Aurora Capital Associates on the site of a former lumber yard. Located one block south of Chlesea Market, the property has been designed by Rafael Viñoly.
Scheduled to open in 2018, this New York location will get inspiration from the first Starbucks Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Room that debuted in December 2014 in the company’s hometown of Seattle, Washington.
An homage to coffee, the first-of-its-kind experience has immersed customers in the craft of roasting and brewing the finest small lot coffees from around the world.
A local sensation since opening its doors, the Roastery is coffee as theater, encouraging customers to interact with Starbucks roasters and baristas in order to deepen their understanding of the art behind sourcing, roasting and brewing rare coffees.
“Our Seattle Roastery experience created something that had never been done before, transforming a retail environment into something far beyond just a coffeeshop and into the single best retail experience of any kind,” said Howard Schultz, chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks. “In New York, we want to take elements from what we originally created and build something even bigger and bolder, celebrating coffee and craft in a completely unique and differentiated way. We want this experience to tell our customers that we’re coming to Broadway.”
The 20,000 s/f New York Roastery experience will build upon everything Starbucks has learned from integrating coffee roasting, manufacturing, education and retail, while ensuring an experience that is locally relevant to the market, said the company.
The Meatpacking project will be led by Arthur Rubinfeld, chief creative officer and president, Starbucks Global Innovation, and Liz Muller, vice president of Starbucks Creative and Global Design. Both executives will work closely with the joint venture of Vornado Realty Trust and Aurora Capital . The development site was acquired by the joint venture in 2015.
David Firestein of the Shopping Center Group represented Starbucks, while Vornado’s Ed Hogan and Aurora Capital’s Jared Epstein represented the landlords in-house.
