That is the case with the Dongan Building, located at 2987 Franklin Street, just blocks from the Detroit River and right off of Jefferson Avenue near downtown.
Hans Hanson is the current owner of the building, which he has rehabbed from top to bottom. Although Hanson will admit: It didn’t need as much work as some of its neighbors. It was a building that was cared for and attended to appropriately.
Hanson – who is opening a galleri (Swedish for “gallery”) this weekend in the Dongan – also owns CAM, which private labels all the food for Rachel Ray and beans for Whole Foods. He also is the North American Distributor of Falksalt, a salt used by chefs all around the world.
As the home of the Dongan Electric Manufacturing Company in 1911, this space was once a factory manufacturing electrical transformers. Evidence of the building’s history can be seen throughout. Some of the original components of the manufacturing process were strategically left intact, making for an interesting juxtaposition of past and present. The Galleri’s main room is a 30′ x 40′ open area, hosting 16 hanging works from Thomas Muller.
The building was used primarily as a manufacturing facility for electrical products, specifically electric transformers. The building’s second floor was used a secure location, one of the most secure in the City of Detroit at the time, to manufacture transformers for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Only those with top-level security clearance were allowed to access the buildings second floor.
Throughout CAM’s Office Suite, you will find pieces of the equipment used to manufacturer the transformers. In fact, all of the pieces were saved and now hang as historical “art”. The staircase on the Franklin side was relocated during the restoration. It was originally used to be on the other side of the wall, leading into what is now CAM’s corporate office.
There also are also plans to add a restaurant, a speakeasy and a market for neighbors to purchase specialty items.