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Outovation KDG Update 2022: Fort Industry Square

May 31, 2022

The KDG Update – Fort Industry Square Opens

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Riverside facade of Fort Industry Square

Fort Industry Square Opens

As summer approaches in Toledo, a block long stretch of historic buildings downtown is filling with new residents and commercial tenants: Fort Industry Square. The first residents moved in in mid-April and one office tenant, Northwest Mutual, has also moved in.

Spanning the east side of N. Summit Street from Jefferson Ave to Monroe St, the collection of three- and four- story building have gone through extensive preservation and adaptive re-use work by Prater Development resulting in 85 apartments and over 60,000 square feet of office and retail commercial space. Even though the project comprises ten abutting buildings constructed over several decades from the mid to late 1800s, they are now internally linked with corridors and stairs. In fact, one of the primary challenges on the project was unification of the circulation and egress inside the buildings.

Phase 1 unit interior

View from corridor

Phase One includes the three north buildings including 144 – 152 N. Summit with its distinctive circular windows just below the heavy bracketed cornice. Phase Two includes the following seven building which extend down the middle of the block. Kraemer Design group provided architectural and historic consulting services on the project.

Historic brick lines this unit’s walls

Circular windows of corner unit

Historic cast iron columns, cornices and historic replica windows along the street facades greatly contribute to a classic feeling of Main Street, USA. Along with the demolition of the vacant Hotel Seagate across the street, this stretch of Summit now has a renewed vibe. Fort Industry Square is KDG’s third major project in Toledo, the other two are The Standart Lofts and The Berdan, both located nearby in the Warehouse District.

Fort Industry Square along N. Summit

Press 321 – Reveal

A rooftop pool and patio are a surprising and welcome amenity at Press 321 in downtown Detroit. Aqua Design, based in Tucson, Arizona, worked closely with KDG, IMEG and Turner Construction to create a rooftop pool at the historic former Detroit Free Press Building. The pool is located at the 7th floor level on the west roof where the two side wings set back and the central tower continues up.

Adding a rooftop pool to a 95-year-old building certainly requires structural retrofitting, but working closely with the structural engineer, IMEG, the design of the pool could be optimized to work with the building’s structural grid and capacity to minimize that retrofit work. The high ceilings and design allowed for full height ceilings in the apartments under the pool. The optimized design was constructed by Turner to realize Bedrock Detroit’s visionary rooftop oasis for residents in the middle of the city.

Construction photos provided by Turner Construction. Finished photos by KDG.

FF&E Procurement – Services

We’ve recently wrapped up Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E) procurement services at two of our downtown Detroit multi-family projects, The Kahn and Olympia Development of Michigan’s Eddystone Residences. Our talented interior designers at KDG specify the FF&E and then seamlessly transition in assisting with our procurement work at Intramode LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kraemer Design Group. The benefit to our clients is having a reliable design source that will ensure the project vision and quality standards are maintained throughout the entire life of the project.

FF&E Installation at Eddystone Apartments

Intramode originated as a service to our clients to complete our hospitality projects. Since then, Intramode has taken our hospitality (FF&E) knowledge and expanded into the commercial office space, retail and multi-family projects. We provide procurement services for our KDG interior design projects and also as a standalone service with an outside specifier. As a procurement agent, Intramode acts as a fiduciary to our clients, and we negotiate purchases solely for their best interest. Our procurement work spans the entire process from preliminary budget analysis, through bidding and negotiations, to installation of furniture, fixtures, equipment and art to project closeout and everything in between. Here’s a view into our onsite management services of furniture being delivered and installed at both properties.

FF&E Installation at The Kahn

Welcome – KDG Office

Join us in welcoming a new architectural designer to our team – Kirsten Crawford! Kirsten is a graduate of Lawrence Technological University with a bachelor’s degree in Architecture. She’s on the fast track to complete her Master’s degree next summer. She also has a strong interest in graphic design and rendered drawings. She is a native of Michigan and comes to us with practical experience from working at a local construction firm. Kirstin is also an avid golfer and competed on the LTU Women’s Golf Team for two years. In her free time, she’s travelling up north or honing her green thumb gardening succulents, looking for Petoskey stones in Lake Michigan and doting on her golden retriever, Rocco.

Did you Catch the Series? – Design

Kraemer Design Group has been posting a series about unbuilt projects on Instagram and Facebook. Several innovative designs have been featured over the past few months and can still be accessed in our feed.

Unbuilt Woodward building

Unbuilt stadium

Unbuilt Dequindre building

May the Fourth! – Events

KDG celebrated the Fourth with a potluck featuring servings of Jabba the Hummus and Light Saber pretzel rods.

KDG is Now Hiring!

KDG is still searching for a Project Architect, Interior Designer, Junior Interior Designer, and Junior / Intern Architectural Specifications Writer. Click an image or the button below for more information on how to apply.

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