East Main Redevelopment

Located in the small city of Milan in southeastern Michigan, the East Main Redevelopment involved rehabilitation of four historic properties: the Palmer, Gay, Philips and the Blackmer. The buildings were originally built between 1845 and 1892 and anchor an important commercial corner. Over the years, all four of the buildings had been altered, and two of them re-skinned. KDG redesigned the project to combine all four buildings into one apartment building containing 15 units and retail spaces on the ground floor.
Renovations greatly improved and unified the four buildings. In addition to necessary structural repairs, modern materials were removed from the facades and two exterior walls were reconstructed to replace prior removed or unstable sections. The interior layouts had been a chaotic series of spaces with numerous separate stairs. KDG’s new layouts introduced a new elevator and a single corridor to access the apartments and common stairs for egress. Work also included mechanical, electrical and plumbing improvements.
KDG first began work on the East Main Development in 2012 with the project redesign and extensive archival research to determine the age of the more recent material applied over the original historic brick. Construction began early 2015, and the historic work was finalized in March 2017. In May 2017 the project team received the honor of the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation for the transformative work done for the city of Milan.