Crain's Detroit Business
August 29, 2025
By Kirk Pinho
A former cold storage building in Detroit's Milwaukee Junction neighborhood that was converted largely into office and coworking space has a new ownership group.
A group of investors that includes the family office of Ann Arbor tech titan Dug Song, and many others, purchased the nine-story Chroma building in late July from Detroit-based The Platform LLC, run by Peter Cummings.
The purchase price was not disclosed, and The Platform, through a spokesperson, declined to comment.
The Southfield office of Dallas-based CBRE Inc. was the brokerage firm on the deal.
State business filings also indicate that Mike Ferlito, who runs Detroit-based The Ferlito Group, and Gino Roncelli, who runs Sterling Heights-based construction contractor Roncelli Inc., are also involved in ownership through various LLCs.
In a news release, the new ownership group said it plans to lease up the remainder of the building at 2731 E. Grand Blvd. The building is about 80% occupied with tenants including the Michigan Humane Society, City Year Detroit and architecture firm Progressive Companies. The Chroma building recently lost two tenants — Bridge Detroit and the VVK PR + Creative communications firm — to Invest Detroit's newly renovated innovation hub in the former Thomas Jefferson Intermediate School in Midtown.
Josh Gershonowicz, a partner in the ownership group, said in a statement that “every lease, every activation is part of the vision to make this building a true engine of creativity and commerce.”
Gershonowicz owns the nearby building at 2921 E. Grand Blvd. that houses the popular Oak & Reel restaurant, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.
“Chroma is more than space — it’s a platform for people and community,” Wonwoo Lee, managing director of Song's family office, Song United, said in the release. “Our support here reflects our broader commitment to Detroit’s founders and innovation ecosystem. By creating more opportunities to connect in Milwaukee Junction, we aim to improve equitable access to resources and help strengthen an ecosystem where entrepreneurship can thrive.”
The Platform spent a reported $16 million on the redevelopment of the property that wrapped up in 2021.
The 1913 building previously had been widely known for artist Katherine Craig’s “Illuminated Mural” that had been on the side, which led some to dub it the “Bleeding Rainbow” building. That art was recently replaced with a different vibrant mural, “The Girl with the D Earring” by artist Sydney G. James.
The sale also includes the roughly 2-acre parking lot surrounding the building.
Song cofounded Ann Arbor-based Duo Security in 2010, leading the company to acquisition by technology giant Cisco Systems Inc. for $2.35 billion in 2018.
The Platform, started about a decade ago, has been selling off assets in recent years, including previously planned development sites in Islandview, along the west riverfront and elsewhere.
