FIRM HISTORY & BACKGROUND

Kadushin Associates Architects Planners (KA) was established in Ann Arbor in 1975. The firm was formed upon the dissolution of The Urban Collaborative in Detroit, a public-interest, non-profit planning and design organization involved primarily in advocacy planning for community-based organizations in major HUD-financed urban renewal projects, Michigan State Housing Development Authority financed housing and community development programs, and municipal planning and design projects in southeast Michigan. Public and institutional community facilities, affordable housing projects and community designs for public bodies and private nonprofit clients are the major focus of Kadushin Associates' work. Clients include private and faith-based nonprofit housing and community development corporations, private sector for-profit developers and managers, municipal departments and public agencies, and other housing and community development intermediaries and organizations. The majority of the firm's work is located in the city of Detroit.

Current projects include new affordable housing and community design for Woodbridge Estates, the former Jeffries West public housing which is being redeveloped as a $92 million mixed income project, partially financed by a HUD HOPE VI Grant; historic rehabilitation of apartment and commercial buildings along the West Vernor corridor in southwest Detroit for Southwest Housing Corporation, providing supportive affordable housing; new 30,000 sf, $3.5 million facility for Alternatives For Girls.

KA has been providing services of this type for over twenty-seven years, primarily in Southeast Michigan, but also in other parts of the country. As a Principal of The Urban Collaborative, Abraham Kadushin was involved in the master planning and design of two of the major urban renewal projects in the City of Detroit, Elmwood Park III and University City II. In the late 1970's, the firm completed plans and programs for the City of Ypsilanti, including a Housing Assistance Plan and Performance Report for HUD, Community Development Block Grant Program applications and projects funded by CDBG in Detroit. KA consulted on the Harmony Village Project in northwest Detroit, which brought together the City of Detroit, State of Michigan and HUD in a unique neighborhood development project. The firm provided architectural services for a major home repair project for the Detroit Development Corporation and served as planner/architect for the Harmony Village Market development for the Harmony Village Non-Profit Development Corporation.

In 1982, the firm became involved with the Riverfront Apartments project in downtown Detroit as the owner's (The Taubman Company & Max Fisher) coordinating architect for this 604-unit residential development, one of the largest projects ever funded through HUD. KA provided design and construction phase services, including preparation of contract documents for portions of the residential towers, parking garage, community building, restaurant/cafe, marina and site development, processing assistance with change orders, monthly walk-through inspections for contractor payment applications, final punch list inspections and numerous other services for over three years in conjunction with HUD housing inspectors and local officials.

Kadushin Associates was architect/planner for the Martin Luther King Community Hall, a HUD-financed community center planned, designed and constructed in less than a year and under budget for the large, Martin Luther King Apartments project in the Elmwood II Urban Renewal area in Detroit. This project received the 1985 Honor Award from the Michigan Society of Architects and the 1983 M Award from the Masonry Institute of Michigan and Michigan Society of Architects.

Throughout the 1980's, KA was also involved with several major private residential property developers and managers, providing due-diligence inspection reports and renovation work programs for over 10,000 apartment units in developments around the country for Holtzman & Silverman/Village Green Management Co. and Martin Goldman Real Estate Development. In 1990-1991, KA provided architectural services for major renovation and upgrade projects at the Huntington Gardens project in Oak Park for Holtzman & Silverman/Village Green Management and Franklin Park Towers in Southfield for First Property Management Co. of Chicago. The firm also provided redesign services for the Harbortown condominium project in Detroit for MichCon/ANR Development.

Since 1989, Kadushin Associates has been the Architect/Community Planner with the Messiah Housing Corporation for the Islandview Village area on the near east side of Detroit. The firm was first selected to prepare the Island View Infill Housing Development Plan for over 250 units of new housing and was Community Architect - Planner for the Field Street Infill Housing Project, a 21-unit, $1.9 million project financed through MSHDA and the Federal Low-Income Tax Credit Program and Phase II, a 27-unit, $2.4 million new construction and rehabilitation project is now being completed. Phase III, a 100-150 unit, $15-20 million project which will also include a community center and retail development is currently actively in planning and predesign. In addition, we are Architects for the $3.3 million historic rehabilitation of St. Paul Manor and Kingston Arms Apartments (60 units) and over $1.3 million in public improvements for the area financed through the City of Detroit HUD CDBG Program. This is a major neighborhood revitalization project that is now part of the City of Detroit Federal Empowerment Zone, and includes funding from HUD, City of Detroit, MSHDA, private foundations, national intermediaries such as the National Equity Fund/Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Michigan Capital Fund for Housing. This work has been nationally recognized in publications and awards programs and is used as a model for successful neighborhood revitalization. Phase III of Islandview Village is now in planning, a 150-unit, $20 million affordable housing and community center project. Under construction in the Islandview Village neighborhood is the English Village Condominium, a 101-unit, $12 million market-rate housing project.

KA has been involved in long term relationships with several major institutional clients including Eastern Michigan University and the City of Taylor. KA completed numerous residential renovation and food service projects on retainer for EMU's Department of Housing and Dining Facilities. KA was selected in 1994 by the City of Taylor to design its new Taylor Human Services Building which includes offices for several health and mental health services such as Wayne County Health Department, Community Care Services (mental health), and Oakwood Hospital/Taylor Teen Health Center (primary health care), Downriver Guidance Clinic and First Step (domestic violence prevention). The 40,000 sf, $4 million project opened in March, 1997 and has been a successful "one-stop" location for health and human services. KA assisted the City of Taylor in its public bond campaign to acquire and rebuild the distressed southwest end of the city, now an $80 million community rebuilding project of the City of Taylor, U.S. Department of HUD and McKinley Associates, Inc. now known as The Villages of Taylor. The firm is Architect for The Terraces, a condominium conversion project in The Villages and is in planning and design for a new 125-unit, $12 million senior housing development. KA is also Architect for renovations and additions to the William D. Ford Senior Activity Center in Taylor, a $3.5 million project currently nearing completion of construction.

Abraham Kadushin, Principal of the firm is an Associate Professor (tenured) at Eastern Michigan University, Department of Human, Environmental and Consumer Resources, and former Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) of The Institute for the Study of Children, Families & Communities. He is currently involved with the new Research Action Seminar, part of the initiatives at EMU to form a Center for Community Building and Management and to create an interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Community Management in the College of Health and Human Services. He helps direct initiatives in the area of community policing and community revitalization in partnerships with organizations in cities including Detroit, Ypsilanti, Taylor and Albion.

In 1996, Abraham Kadushin completed his Doctorate in Architecture at The University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning. His dissertation research is entitled Neighborhood Transformation Design: A Case Study of IslandView Village, Detroit and is based on his experiences as a "participant/observer" utilizing "action research" methods in this dynamic urban redevelopment process.

The firm's principal and associates maintain memberships in several key national organizations, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Institute of Community Planners (AICP), National Community Building Network (NCBN), Association for Community Design (ACD), Habitat for Humanity, American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC).

Kadushin has presented his work at many local and national conferences of organizations including the National Community Building Network, International Making Cities Livable Conference, American Planning Association-Michigan Society of Planning Officials, American Sociological Association, Society for Humanistic Sociology, Interior Design Educators Council, and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

The Islandview Village/Field Street Infill Housing Project was selected as a case study in the publication, Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing, produced by the American Institute of Architects and the National Endowment for the Arts, published by the AIA and McGraw Hill in 1997.

An article by Abraham Kadushin entitled, The Building in Community Building was published in the Spring/Summer 2000 issue of Community, the United Way national journal of community building for community leaders. Click here for .pdf file