Kraemer Design Group tapped for Park Avenue building project in Detroit

Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group, PLC, an architecture, interior design and creative firm, will serve as the architect, designer and historic consultant on the landmark Park Avenue Building project in Detroit.

Located at 2001 Park Avenue at West Adams Avenue in Grand Circus Park, the former office building will be transformed as a mixed-used project, with upscale and refined apartment residences to be designed above about 5,000 square feet of first-floor retail. The 104,500-square-foot 12-story building was once known as the General Necessities Building and was designed by the prolific Albert Kahn in 1922.

Kraemer Design Group is currently in preliminary phases of the Park Avenue Building project, and their design will indicate the number of units of the rehabilitation, which also includes façade and fire escape rehabilitation. Senior Project Architect Laura Cunningham and the rest of the KDG team will collaborate with developer Rino Soave, owner of Novi, Michigan-based Infinity Homes & Co., who purchased the building in April of this year.

The building has been vacant for decades and will require structural updates and new infrastructure to accommodate future residents and retail tenants. Soave intends for the KDG team to stabilize the neglected historic elements and plans for a complete restoration.

The Park Avenue Building was part of Park Avenue Association, formed the same time Kahn completed the project in the 1920s. The Association was formed to promote the modernization of Park Avenue to resemble Park Avenue in Manhattan.

In addition to the Park Avenue Building, KDG is currently working on a slate of historic buildings in Detroit. This includes the former Detroit Life Building, a 10-story building located at 2210 Park Avenue which was also built in 1922, as well as the former Women’s City Club building at 2110 Park Avenue, which is slated for a $25 million renovation. Both projects are part of the District Detroit plans announced by Olympia Development earlier this year and were also part of the Park Avenue Association. KDG is also working on historic properties like the David Stott Building at 1150 Griswold, the Detroit Free Press Building at 321 West Lafayette, the Albert Kahn Building at 7430 Second Avenue, and the Leland Hotel at 400 Bagley Avenue.