January 11, 2023

California-based firm acquires Seattle's Caron Architecture

Rendering by Caron Architecture [enlarge]

Notable Caron Architecture projects include a proposed hotel/residential building fronting the monorail on 5th Avenue.

Yesterday, California-based architecture firm AXIS/GFA Architecture + Design announced its acquisition of Seattle-based Caron Architecture. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, the agreement will see Caron Architecture rebrand and become AXIS/GFA's new Seattle studio.

Caron Architecture was founded in 2002 by architect Radim Blazej and is a full-service architecture firm that works with a variety of national and international clients. The firm specializes in multi-family residential, hotel, and mixed-use/commercial architectural design, as well as pre-development and master planning technical services. Notable projects currently on the boards include a proposed 18-story, 261,729-square-foot mixed-use tower at 2125 Fifth Avenue with 184 hotel rooms, 136 residential units and retail spaces.

AXIS/GFA Architecture + Design was founded in California in 2001 and has particular expertise in hospitality design, hotel architecture, hospitality facility renovations, and multi-family residential architectural design.

The acquisition of Caron is the latest milestone in AXIS/GFA's ongoing growth and expansion along the West Coast. The firm currently has studios in San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as satellite offices in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Boston.

Photo from Marriott [enlarge]

AXIS/GFA is known for its work designing hotels. Pictured is the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Santa Cruz, which the firm designed for Lotus Management.

In a press release announcing the acquisition, AXIS/GFA said that “in addition to increasing the firm's geographic reach, the acquisition leverages Caron's noted multi-family residential design expertise, supplementing the capabilities of AXIS/GFA's well-established and award-winning hospitality and multi-family design practices.”

“I'm very excited about this opportunity,” AXIS/GFA founding principal architect and CEO Cory Creath added in the release. “Caron complements AXIS/GFA's strategic plans in a number of ways. Considering their core expertise, adding their studio to our firm increases the capabilities and competitiveness of our multi-family residential practice. Given their location, Caron immediately adds an established presence for AXIS/GFA in the Pacific Northwest,” he added.

Blazej, Caron Architecture's founding principal architect, will continue to lead the team in Seattle as AXIS/GFA's new principal and local studio director. “Seeing how AXIS/GFA embraces a similar culture as ours, I'm confident this partnership is set for success,” Blazej said in the release.

Caron's rebrand as an AXIS/GFA studio is anticipated to be completed in early 2023.