Santa Cruz–based company Verve has three locations in the beachside city. Its roastery is sited in a structure that was built in 1914 to house the Seabright Cannery, which operated until 1989. After that, it became a warehouse for skate and surf companies. Fuse Architecture was called into convert the space into a roasting plant and retail storefront that opened in 2011.
"The roastery location is in an industrial warehouse right in the middle of a neighborhood," says Dan Townsend of Fuse Architecture. "Other tenants in the complex are Oneill Surf Boards, Santa Cruz skate boards, Santa Cruz Mountain Bikes, Element, Pacific Edge Climbing, and others. The neighborhood had not dealt with the smells, noise and traffic of a coffee roaster so the Owners wanted us to design the space where the neighbors would feel like they could walk up, see the operation, and order coffee."
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