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.
Sources differ on the exact footprint of the new office. MLive reports the building will be an 8,870-square-foot, one-story structure, while a company account on owen-ames-kimball.com describes it as an 8,700-square-foot office. Either way, it marks a sizable upgrade from the leased space the firm currently occupies in Kalamazoo. The building is scheduled for completion in summer 2027.
A Company Rooted in Grand Rapids, Now Expanding Across Michigan
Owen-Ames-Kimball was established in 1891 in Grand Rapids, where it remains headquartered, and the firm has worked in the region for more than a century. It's an employee-owned company that now provides commercial construction services across Michigan, Colorado and Florida, serving seven industries that include K-12 education, higher education, commercial, community, government, healthcare and aviation work, according to the company's own account on owen-ames-kimball.com.
The Kalamazoo project fits into a broader pattern of growth for the firm elsewhere in the state. In Grand Rapids, O-A-K is involved in three riverfront projects — East Riverfront Park, Canal Park and the Grand Rapids Public Museum Riverfront. The East Riverfront Park project broke ground in August 2025 and includes 4.5 acres of green space along with a half-mile non-motorized trail, while the Canal Park project at 905 Monroe Ave. NW broke ground that April, per the company's account.
The Kalamazoo office joins a list of projects shaping the area's development landscape this year, an MLive roundup of regional developments to watch noted earlier in 2026. For a firm that has spent more than a decade renting space in Kalamazoo, the new building at the WMU research park represents a more permanent bet on the city's future — one the company expects to open to staff by summer 2027.
