Ghafari Associates, a Dearborn-based design firm, Monday announced it has acquired Grand Rapids’ Concept Design Group, an architectural and interior design firm.
The acquisition will expand Ghafari’s western Michigan presence and broaden Concept Design’s reach to international markets.
Concept Design was founded nearly 30 years ago and specializes in commercial, corporate office, law, multi-family, hospitality, retail, restaurant, and mixed-use facility projects. Ghafari has identified the commercial market and corporate spaces as key to its future growth.
“As part of our strategic plan, we are expanding our core corporate and commercial expertise, as well as our geographic reach. Joining forces with Concept Design enables us to enhance our design capabilities and corporate/commercial portfolio, while also affording their team the opportunity to grow professionally,” says Kouhaila Hammer, president and CEO of Ghafari Associates.
Stephen Fry, founder and president of Design Concept, will serve as president of the Grand Rapids office.
“The additional resources this union brings will broaden the range of services we provide, including full facility engineering and process engineering,” says Fry. “Obviously, it deepens our bench strength and positions us on a faster path toward serving clients beyond western Michigan. This opens up a lot of new opportunities for our clients and our team.”
Fry and Thomas Tooley, Concept Design’s senior vice president, will join Ghafari’s management team. The unit will be known as Concept Design, a Ghafari Company, during the transition period. The firm and employees will remain in their current office.
Ghafari is a global, full-service engineering, architecture, process design, consulting, and construction services firm. With the new acquisition, it has 15 offices worldwide.
