View this email in your browser

KDG Spring Recap 2024

History

The Overmyer Building was originally constructed in 1912 for The Overmyer Company, a grocery wholesaler. The location on Ontario Street in Toledo’s Warehouse District was advantageous because of railway lines behind the building and its proximity to the Erie & Miami Canal. The original reinforced concrete structure was designed to be fireproof and strong enough to support a future vertical addition. Five years later, a four-story addition was added to the four-story structure doubling the building to the eight-story building that exists today. The open floor plans and expansive steel windows provided abundant natural light and ventilation. The use of concrete instead of wood, along with installing a fire suppression system, was cutting-edge at the time and highlighted the desire to prevent devastation from fire.

Bartley Co. Wholesale Grocers (1935)

As one of the earliest surviving examples of flat slab reinforced concrete construction in the Toledo region, the Overmyer Building showcases advancements in early twentieth-century building technology. Structural engineer Claude A.P. Turner’s patented a flat-slab and “mushroom” column structural system in 1911, concurrent with the design and construction of the Overmyer building, although there are examples of prototypes for the system constructed as early as 1906. The locally prominent architecture firm of Mills, Rhine, Bellman and Nordhoff designed the building architecture and it was constructed by A. Bentley and Sons, who also constructed several other prominent buildings in Toledo including the Toledo Museum of Art. The Overmyer Company leased portions of the building through the middle of the twentieth century until they sold it in 1963. The Union Paper Company, later renamed Commerce Paper, was a long-standing tenant who eventually purchased the property. They occupied the building from 1941-2017.

Façade Exterior (2024)

Ground Floor Unit (2024)

Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation and adaptive reuse work converted the building to market-rate residential apartments spanning all floors, with a commercial office and fitness center located in a portion of the first floor. Apartments feature polished concrete floors, large windows, in-unit washer and dryer, quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances. New building systems were installed throughout, including a new traction elevator that extends to an outdoor rooftop lounge where residents can enjoy views of the city. A central corridor on each level connects to a newly constructed egress stair tower on the south façade. KDG coordinated approval for the demolition of the adjacent one-story warehouse building that allowed for the construction of the new egress stair tower, as well as areas for trash removal and resident parking.

Typical Corridor (2024)

Exterior work comprised full masonry restoration of the brick façades, terra cotta details and exposed concrete beams and columns. The deteriorated factory-style windows were replaced with thermally-broken historic replica aluminum windows. Original wood storefront frames were restored and clad with brake metal for more durability. The original wood overhead loading dock doors along the alley were fully restored and made weathertight. Replacements for the missing wooden double doors along the south bay of the building were custom made using historic photos as reference. The property also features on-site gated parking equipped with electric vehicle charging stations The project utilized both federal and State of Ohio historic tax credits, which entailed close coordination with the State Historic Preservation Office to ensure compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

Typical Unit (2024)

Typical Unit (2024)