Kahn went beyond the typical Chicago School and styled the Kales Building with a clean-lined detail façade with Neo-classical and Renaissance revival elements such as the hipped roof and arched upper windows.

When completed in 1914, the Kales Building housed the headquarters of the S.S. Kresge Company, forerunner of retailing giant Kmart.

The last tenant, New York Custom Shoe Shop owned by Antonio Bava, moved out of the building in 1986 and it sat vacant until its restoration in 2004.

The building's future was put in limbo when the proposed stadiums were shifted to the opposite side of Woodward.

During the summer of 1999 the GDP held 'request for proposals' for the Kales and the nearby Statler Hotel to attract bids from developers planning to redevelop the building into loft apartments.