Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters, of Spokane, has bought the former Michlitch Co. building near downtown and plans to move its roasting operation, Mad Batter Bakery, and corporate offices there, says Thomas Hammer, its president and CEO.


Were looking forward to getting back downtown, bringing some support to the downtown core, says Hammer, who worked at the Nordstroms coffee bar and at 4 Seasons Coffee Co. downtown while in college.


His company bought the 20,000-square-foot building, at 210 W. Pacific, from Ken Bailey, of Spokane, and plans to begin renovating it shortly. RenCorp LLC, of Spokane, will be the general contractor on the project, Hammer says. The total cost of buying and remodeling the building will be around $500,000, he says. The building is located at the northwest corner of Pacific Avenue and McClellan Street, just north of the old Armory Building.


Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters corporate offices and roasting operation currently occupy about 5,000 square feet of leased space in the Fancher Bridge Business Park, at 5805 E. Sharp, and the Mad Batter Bakery is located in about 1,500 square feet of leased space at 6615 E. Broadway.


Hammer says he expects the offices and roasting operation to move to the new location by late summer, and the bakery to move there in early fall. Altogether, those three operations employ about 17 people, he says. Including its retail outlets, the company employs about 70 people.


The company is cramped at its current location in the Fancher Bridge Business Park, and the move will give it room to grow and put everything under one roof, he says.


Hammer founded the coffee company here 11 years ago. It now operates 11 retail outletsseven in the Spokane area and four in Boiseand has a wholesale operation that supplies coffee to clients. Hammer says the companys retail and wholesale divisions contribute about equally to the companys revenues. Mad Batter Bakery sells a range of baked goods, made here from scratch, both through the companys coffee shops and to wholesale clients.


We rebranded the company with a new brand identity about a year and a half ago, and it has been a very positive change for the company, he says. That rebranding included new marketing strategies, a new logo, new product packaging, and an apparel line, he says. Also, he says, the company began selling its coffee through Rosauers supermarkets last September, which has boosted coffee sales.


Michlitch, the longtime Spokane food-processing equipment vendor and bulk-seasoning supplier, moved in the fall of 2003 to a 10,000-square-foot building at 130 N. Stone that owner Joyce Bailey Vannoy and her husband, Don, bought. It had occupied the building on Pacific since 1987.