Success Story
The Rectory
As co-owner and managing partner of The Congregation in Detroit, Betsy Murdoch expanded on her mission of gathering community with The Rectory, supported by a Build MI Community Grant from the MEDC
An abandoned church in Detroit’s historic Boston-Edison neighborhood once again became a place for the community to gather when The Congregation opened in early 2020. As the brainchild of co-owner Betsy Murdoch and her partners, who all live in the neighborhood, the aptly named coffee shop quickly became a place to congregate for locals and visitors alike.
“We saw our community and the lack of walkability in terms of places to go and grab something quick to eat and hang out,” says Murdoch. “Coffee is a very communal beverage; it’s an easy entry point for people to sit down and have good conversation.”
Thanks to overwhelming support from the community and the desire for additional food options in the neighborhood, Murdoch and her team expanded The Congregation in 2025 with a pizzeria called The Rectory, located in an adjacent, converted historic home that had been vacant for 30 years. The two sites are joined by greenspace, accommodating the foot traffic and complementing both businesses as a community space for seating and events.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation provided support for the expansion with a nearly $250,000 Build MI Community grant in 2023, an initiative that assists emerging developers with reactivating underutilized or vacant space into vibrant areas.
The success of The Congregation and The Rectory are a testament to what can happen when you combine dedicated business owners and a loyal following.
In the Beginning
Before deciding to purchase the abandoned church building in 2016, Murdoch and her partners spent time speaking with neighbors to gauge their interest. The response, Murdoch says, was overwhelmingly positive.
“They all wanted something in the neighborhood, especially the older demographic who are used to Rosa Parks Boulevard being this hub of walkability with small businesses. All your modern-day amenities were here at one point in time, and so being able to bring that back to life for this community was something that they were really excited about.”
With community buy-in in place, Murdoch and her partners spent the next four years converting the church building before opening the doors of The Congregation in early 2020 – two weeks before the pandemic. While the timing wouldn’t be ideal for any business, Murdoch found a silver lining along the way.
A Blessing in Disguise
For a coffee shop intended to be a gathering space for the local community, the pandemic presented some challenges – and, as it turned out, opportunities. After two weeks of what Murdoch calls “sheer mayhem” during The Congregation’s grand opening, including large crowds and music events, the world hit the pause button.
“It was this mayhem, and then a hard stop. We sat around the table as business partners and wondered, ‘What are we going to do?’ At that point, we thought it was only going to be a few weeks, so we first started looking at how to unload the food we’d purchased.”
The business began hosting a farmers market stand with a “take what you can, pay what you can” model, providing another resource for the community. Then “a few weeks” turned into a few months. Murdoch decided she wanted to spend that time making coffee for her neighbors at The Congregation rather than staying at home, and discovered others felt the same way.
“Over that time, I always believed that the pandemic actually helped curate a lot of our mission,” Murdoch says. “I was there for three months by myself running the coffee shop and being able to build the relationships with a lot of our neighbors. They had been excited for us to open and wanted to get out of their houses to grab a coffee. I met a lot of people during that time, and they are now very dear friends.”
The timing of the pandemic also coincided with a new opportunity for the growth and expansion of The Congregation.
Converting The Rectory
Shortly after The Congregation opened, a long-vacant home believed to be the original rectory to the church became available. While Murdoch and her partners didn’t know what they wanted to do with the property, its proximity to The Congregation made it feel like a natural fit for expansion.
“We started going through the rezoning process and brainstorming ideas. With a love for food and beverage, I knew we needed to bring another aspect of that to our community that was complementary to what The Congregation was offering.”
Coming up with a concept was the easy part: pizza was the perfect option, thanks to its universal appeal and accessibility to a range of taste buds. Converting a historic home into a restaurant space proved to be a bigger challenge. Thankfully, the relationships formed during the redevelopment of The Congregation provided Murdoch and her partners with the network needed to make The Rectory a reality. “That’s the beauty of Detroit; it’s a very big city, but a very small town. Everyone wants everyone to succeed.”
The Build MI Community grant helped Murdoch and her partners fill a gap in funding and make the project work. “Without it, we would not be here. We had lenders on standby, ready to give us a certain amount of money, but we could not get that final gap of funding figured out. The grant was a huge reason behind how we were able to make this happen.”
After going through the hurdles of securing funding and working with contractors, The Rectory held its soft launch in June 2025 and became fully operational that September.
A Place to Gather
With The Rectory up and running, Murdoch is excited to provide even more opportunities for connection with the community. Thanks to an enclosed and covered deck area with heaters, the team is planning to host wintery themed events. Looking ahead to the warmer months, Murdoch says they are already giving thought to how to use the buildings and shared green space in between.
“The green space outside of The Congregation is unheard of in Michigan. Having such an expansive outdoor space, we utilize every day that the sun is shining. There's always something fun and exciting, and all the events that we host outside are free for people to enjoy. There’s lots of music, lots of markets.”
Murdoch says that in their first six years of business, they’ve been able to grow their team, promote managers and even create an events team. “We continue to build upon what we’re currently doing with the mission of being community focused. It’s at the forefront of everything that we do.”
