SDG Housing Project in Southfield, Michigan Achieves Prestigeous Energy Designation
July 2025 - SDG's project in Southfield, Michigan to convert the long vacant John Grace school into affordable senior housing has received a significant energy designation, among other notable accomplishments. The project will provide 18 units in the existing school and a 42 unit addition.
In addition to Historic Tax Credits, requiring rigorous attention to specific design standards, the project achieved PHIUS CORE Design Certification, as only the second multi-family project in Michigan to attain this highly notable achievement. More information can be found in the following article:
https://www.buildzeroconsulting.com/post/john-grace-arms-phius-core-2021-design-certification
Jane's Walk - SDG Principal, Nicolas Lamoureux
In the Summer of 2025, SDG Principal Nicolas Lamoureux continued his tradition of leading a Jane's walk in Windsor, Ontario Canada, helping to bring greater awareness of architecture, design, process and impact. More information on his walk entitled, "Who Designs Our Cities?" can be found at:
https://www.windsorjaneswalk.ca/event-details/who-designs-our-cities
Every year, cities all around the world celebrate the life and legacy of Jane Jacobs through a series
of free, volunteer run walks that are aimed at getting people outside and walking in their cities. Nicolas Lamoureux has been involved with the Windsor-Essex Jane’s Walk Festival since 2021 through submitting self-guided tours and artwork, as well as leading three walks on architecture and urban planning. In 2025, he also was a part of the Planning Committee that helped put on the second largest Jane’s Walk Festival in Canada with over 55 free events throughout the city of Windsor and Essex County, Ontario.
Grand Opening of the Detroit Police Department James E. Tate, Jr Annex
With a ribbon cutting on August 2nd, 2024 and later renamed after esteemed Councilman James E. Tate, Jr., SDG was proud to have been the architect for the renovations of this beautiful and historical Detroit building, presented by a moving and uplifting speech by Mayor Mike Duggan.
Grand Opening of the Much Awaited Detroit Food Commons
Detroit Architecture Firm’s Project will Bring Long Needed Options for Healthy Groceries and Greater Food Security to Detroit’s North End
SDG Associates, as the architect, partnered with the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, and Develop Detroit, to celebrate the much anticipated May 2024 opening of the Detroit Food Commons at Woodward and Euclid.
DETROIT – (May 8, 2024) A vision of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCFSN) for over ten years has come to fruition. This highly significant project will bring 31,000 square feet of offices, banquet and event facilities, licensed shared-use kitchens where local entrepreneurs can cook their delicacies for sale to the public, and an entire first floor of groceries known as the Detroit People’s Food Co-op. The member owned cooperative grocery store, open to the public, will bring healthy food selections to the North End. Much of food sold in the store will be Detroit grown and sourced, and accessible to all income levels aimed at reducing ‘food insecurity’ for the deserving residents of the City.
“We are hoping that the Detroit Food Commons becomes a model of Black-led equitable, community benefitting development,” says Malik Yakini, Executive Director, Detroit Food Commons. “Specifically, the anchor tenant, Detroit People’s Food Co-op, seeks to create a more circular, non-extractive food economy in majority Black Detroit.”
Based in Detroit since 1964, SDG Associates (formerly Sims Varner and Associates and Howard Sims and Associates) is proud to be the architect of the Detroit Food Commons, and a partner with the DBCFSN and developer Develop Detroit since 2018 to make this community enriching project a reality. A complex multi-use design and layout in one of Detroit’s Traditional Main Street Overlay Districts, the building provides a unique and fresh look to the neighborhood, and spaces which support and encourage economic growth, well-being and community.
The Detroit Food Co-op will herald its much anticipated grand opening on May 18,2024, and begin an important step towards greater empowerment and well-being of the residents of this neighborhood and the City of Detroit. More information about the project and DBCFSN can be found on the DBCFSN website at www.dbcfsn.org.
Founded by Howard F. Sims, FAIA in 1964 and proudly celebrating its 60thyear in business and as a Detroit headquartered architecture firm, SDG Associates has been responsible for many of Detroit’s most prominent buildings including the Robert Millender Center, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, in addition to work at Huntington Place, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and airports across the United States. More information about SDG Associates can be found on its website at www.sdg-assoc.com.
The original building concept for the Detroit Food Commons was provided by Baltimore Design, and L.S. Brinker company is the general contractor for the project.
Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit Opens At Detroit's Charles Wright Museum of African American History
SDG was proudly the architect for this new exhibit which opened in March 2021 at the Charles Wright Museum, commemorating the achievements and lives of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Charles Wright Museum Lego Sets Available at the Museum Gift Shop
For a limited time only, these one of a kind Charles H Wright Museum of African American History Lego sets were available at the museum gift shop.
These unique Lego (TM) sets were custom designed by Wesley Sims and Ichiban Toys to commemorate the museum and history of Michigan's oldest African-American architecture firm. In addition to a roadmap on building the 124 piece model of this architectural and cultural landmark, the instruction booklet provides great facts about the museum and its designer, Howard Sims and SDG Associates.
