Corktown’s coffee routine might be in for a serious shakeup. James Oliver Coffee Co., the neighborhood café that opened in 2021, is warning customers that a landlord dispute has left its Michigan Avenue flagship on a month-to-month lease and could eventually push it out of the area. In the meantime, the owners say they are moving to protect the business by shifting more baking and roasting out of Corktown, including plans for a standalone bakehouse.
A sign taped up inside the shop lays out the stakes bluntly: “We are currently in a lease dispute with our landlord regarding future occupancy of this location.” Co-owner David Shock told Metro Times that James Oliver is now operating month-to-month and added, “We don’t want to give up on Corktown.” Public records and local reporting show the building is held by 1236 Michigan Avenue LLC and list Alex Riley, who also owns PJ’s Lager House next door, as the registered agent.
Shock and co-owner Miranda Clark told Crain's Detroit Business they are preparing to spend roughly $650,000 on a new bakehouse that would centralize bagel and pastry production. They frame the project as both a growth move and a hedge, in case talks over the Corktown space fall apart. The new facility would allow James Oliver to expand catering and supply multiple cafes from a single production kitchen.
Why Corktown Feels This
The lease fight is unfolding just as Corktown keeps shifting around the restored Michigan Central Station, which reopened in 2024 after Ford’s redevelopment. Local coverage, including reporting from Metro Times and Axios Detroit, has flagged how station-area buzz and nearby property listings are putting extra pressure on small businesses in the neighborhood.
Owners' Next Steps
Shock and Clark say they would rather stay put in Corktown, but they are lining up other options while negotiations continue, according to WhatNow Detroit. The company has already been growing across the region, increasing roasting capacity on Detroit’s east side and opening or planning shops in Brush Park, Woodbridge and Wyandotte, and they present the bakehouse as another piece of that expansion.
For now, the Corktown café is still open, and a sign at the counter thanks regulars for sticking with them. Whether that planned $650,000 bakehouse becomes James Oliver’s next chapter or just a backup plan will likely come down to how quickly and how well those lease talks play out, as reported by Crain's Detroit Business.
