Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. has broken ground on its first company-owned office building in Kalamazoo, a project that will finally give the century-old Grand Rapids construction firm a permanent home in a city it has worked from for more than a decade. The new building is rising at 4755 Campus Drive, inside Western Michigan University’s Business, Technology and Research Park, on a 4.28-acre site the company will occupy as it moves out of leased space.
The Kalamazoo Planning Commission unanimously approved the project’s site plan in June, though the approval came with a condition: final sign-off from the city’s Site Plan Review Committee, a step required for private development within the BTR Park zone district, according to publicmedianet.org. As reported by MLive, the company broke ground on the project on Oct. 15, with Grand Rapids-based Ghafari Associates, LLC handling the design.
Owen-Ames-Kimball has operated a Kalamazoo branch since 2013, and the company currently employs approximately 12 office staff there, per publicmedianet.org’s reporting. The new building is designed with room to grow, built to accommodate approximately 20 office staff as the local team expands.
Why the Move Matters for O-A-K’s Kalamazoo Team
Tom Stanek, director of Kalamazoo operations for Owen-Ames-Kimball, said the new building represents the company’s growth since it opened its local office in 2013. He said the company would replace its leased space with a building suited to its current identity and future work, according to MLive’s reporting. Aaron Keyser is serving as the O-A-K project manager leading the project, the outlet notes…