Once the Harvard Square Building, The Belle is a striking example of Italian Romanesque architecture, now reimagined through Kraemer Design Group’s expertise in adaptive reuse and historic consulting. With intricate terra cotta detailing, iron railings, and sculptural elements, including eagles and griffins, its ornate façade reflects Detroit’s rich architectural heritage. Likely featuring the work of renowned sculptor Corrado Parducci, the building had been largely vacant since the late 1990s, with only the Paris Bar nightclub operating on the first floor until 2015.

KDG’s architectural and historic consulting teams led a meticulous restoration while addressing complex code and structural challenges. Preserving the façade required sourcing a rare red, black, and white marble for the first floor recladding, seamlessly integrating new elements with the original design. The corridors, lined with historic wood doors and marble wainscoting, were carefully adapted with fire-rated walls that maintain their historic rhythm. Asbestos remediation was completed with precision to protect original materials.

The Overmyer Building, also known as the Commerce Paper Building, is located just south of downtown Toledo, Ohio in the Warehouse District. The original four-story structure was built in 1912 for The Overmyer Company, a grocery wholesaler and designed by the local architecture firm Mills, Rhine, Bellman and Nordhoff. A vertical addition of four more stories was constructed in 1917, constituting the eight story building as it currently exists. The reinforced concrete structure is one of the earliest surviving flat-slab buildings in downtown Toledo and boasts large “mushroom” column capitals that support the concrete floors. The front façade of the brick-clad building includes decorative terra cotta accents such as a dentiled cornice, coping and window sills. Additional features of the historic industrial warehouse style building include an open floor plan, large freight elevators, expansive factory-style steel windows for natural light, and a covered loading dock along the railroad tracks.

The Detroit Free Press Building, now known as The Press/321, is a fourteen-story office building clad in Indiana limestone occupying half a city block in Downtown Detroit. The building, designed by Albert Kahn, served as a newspaper headquarters with offices and printing plant consolidated into one building. Upper floors were leased to office tenants. The building vacated before 2000 and stood empty for nearly two decades.

Starting in late 2016, KDG served as historic consultant and architect of record for core and shell restoration and alterations. The scope included replacement of all building systems, reconfiguration of the elevators and restoration of the facades. The historic building lobby and its notable barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling was restored as well as historic corridors on each floor.