Spot Lite, the east side room where Detroit dance music had a home

Spot Lite sits at 2905 Beaufait Street, in the Islandview stretch of Detroit's east side, inside a former Beyster Lumber warehouse that the owners reworked into one of the city's more unusual rooms. Roula David and Jesse Cory opened it in May 2021. The idea was a single address that holds several businesses at once: a bar, a gallery, a record store, and a music room, with coworking space during the day.

The format is the point. By day the room runs as a community workspace and record shop. By night it turns into a music venue and an art gallery on the same floor. The venue sums up its own intent simply, describing its mission as "to foster a home of collaboration and creativity in Detroit for the enjoyment of all people."

The opening was years in the making. Spot Lite was an early Motor City Match awardee, taking a $40,000 cash grant in 2018, and David credited the program with helping the project clear the path to opening. "MCM opened the door for this space to become a reality," she said in the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation's announcement. "In addition to the cash grant, MCM connected us to lenders and helped us navigate all the requirements to bring our business to life." The building itself needed extensive work before it could open, having sat for years as storage space.

The programming leaned into Detroit dance music and the visual art that runs alongside it. The room booked house, techno, and adjacent sounds at night while the gallery walls cycled through shows, and the small record shelf in the lobby tracked the labels the room played.

David's footprint grew in 2024, when she took over the former UFO Factory at 2110 Trumbull in Corktown and reopened it as UFO Bar. Speaking with WDET about that handoff, she said she wanted regulars to feel the place would hold its character. "I really want people to feel comfortable that it's going to be the same," she told the station. "There's no bar outside of Hamtramck that has that vibe, energy and community."

Both rooms are now closing. In June 2026, David and Cory announced on the venues' own channels that they were stepping away from nightlife, with Spot Lite's last night set for June 28 and UFO Bar's for June 30. UFO Bar's Corktown space is slated to reopen under a new team as Detroit Vinyl Bar, a record store and cocktail bar. For roughly five years, Spot Lite gave the east side a room that doubled as a record shop, a gallery, and a dance floor, and held that shape until the end.