Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group, PLC, an architecture, interior design and creative firm, is taking on the lion’s share of historic consulting work in its hometown and throughout Michigan, earning statewide recognition and contributing to a substantial amount of tax credit dollars secured throughout the state and contributing to the restoration of Detroit’s history.
KDG served as historic consultant on the Detroit Foundation Hotel, which has been honored as a winner of the prestigious 2018 Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation. Additionally, KDG received three awards from the Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MHPN): the Citizen Award, which honors KDG’s Rebecca Binno-Savage for her individual impact on Detroit’s historic buildings and districts; the Preservation Gem Award for the façade restoration on the Valpey Building in Detroit; and the Tax Credit Award for the East Main Redevelopment in Milan, Michigan.
The awards come on the heels of the National Park Service’s report on the federal Historic Tax Credit Program’s 2017 fiscal year, which estimates that $158,712,989 in qualified rehabilitation costs were completed in Michigan in 2017. KDG’s historic projects completed in that timeframe account for 43 percent of those dollars – a significant portion of the federal dollars allocated to the state by the National Park Service.
The Detroit Foundation Hotel is the fifth KDG project to earn the Governor’s Award. KDG was the architect of record and historic consultant on the East Main Redevelopment, which received the award in 2017.
KDG was recognized in 2015 for rehabilitation of Detroit’s David Whitney Building and officially honored in 2011 for its work on the Durant Hotel in Flint. KDG also was part of the team responsible for the Lofts of Merchants Row in Detroit, which was awarded the Governor’s Award in 2005, although at the time the State Historic Preservation Office did not include recognition of project architects.
KDG’s three awards from the MHPN mark a total of five awards from the organization in the last six years. Previously KDG received honors from MHPN for the David Whitney Building in 2015 and Eastern Market Corporation Sheds 2 and 3 in 2012.
KDG’s historic expertise is currently on display through its work on in-progress projects in Detroit, such as the Shinola Hotel, Detroit Free Press building, Masonic Temple, Leland Hotel and more. KDG is also applying its historic knowhow to projects in Flint and Toledo. Additionally, KDG team members are part of the MI Impact Coalition, which is encouraging reinstatement of the Michigan Historic Tax Credit for residential and commercial property owners.
