Kales Building

The Kales Building is a high-rise apartment building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is located 76 West Adams at the northeast corner of Adams Avenue West and Park Avenue, across from Grand Circus Park, in the Foxtown neighborhood, just north of Downtown. The building was designed by Albert Kahn and constructed in 1914, and stands at 18 floors, with one basement floor, for a total of 19 floors in height. It was originally named the Kresge Building and it was given its current name in 1930. Kahn went beyond the typical Chicago School and styled the Kales Building with a clean-lined detail façade with Neo-classical and Renaissance revival elements such as the hipped roof and arched upper windows.

Kales Building
General information
Typeresidential
Architectural styleNeo-Classical
Neo-Renaissance
Location76 West Adams
Detroit, Michigan
Coordinates42°20′12″N 83°03′09″W
Completed1914
Renovated2003–2004
Height
Roof258 ft (79 m)
Technical details
Floor count18
Design and construction
ArchitectAlbert Kahn
Kales Building
Part ofGrand Circus Park Historic District (ID83000894)
Designated CPFebruary 28, 1983

History

When completed in 1914, the Kales Building housed the headquarters of the S.S. Kresge Company, forerunner of retailing giant Kmart.[1] Kresge only occupied 9 of the 18 floors. The rest of the floors was leased out to doctors and dentists and the storefronts included a pharmacy. S.S. Kresge Co. moved out of the building in 1930 for a new headquarters at Cass Park and the old headquarters remained a prime location for medical offices. The last tenant, New York Custom Shoe Shop owned by Antonio Bava, moved out of the building in 1986 and it sat vacant until its restoration in 2004.

Redevelopment

In the 1990s, plans were brought up for the future Ford Field and Comerica Park on the west side of Woodward. Demolition of the Kales Building was considered to make space for parking. The building's future was put in limbo when the proposed stadiums were shifted to the opposite side of Woodward. Then the city requested the Greater Downtown Partnership to try to sell the property to developers. During the summer of 1999 the GDP held 'request for proposals' for the Kales and the nearby Statler Hotel to attract bids from developers planning to redevelop the building into loft apartments. The renovation was announced thereafter and initial cleanup work began in 2000.

The Kales Building was renovated in 2003-2004 into 117 residential units with ground-level retail.

References
  1. Profile of S. S. Kresge World Headquarters Building.Detroit1701.org. Retrieved on November 24, 2007.

Further reading
  • Hill, Eric J.; John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3.
  • Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Sharoff, Robert (2005). American City: Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3270-6.
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