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When David Shea combined his background in architecture, interior design and marketing communications into a single entity, Shea Inc., it was a new and untested combination. That was 30 years ago.

Today, the business continues to grow, with a client list that includes major names in retail and restaurants such as Macy’s, Morton’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Kona Grill and Target. “A lot of our work is brand-centric,” Shea says. “We work with clients to improve the visibility of their brand. The solutions aren’t necessarily architectural solutions. It could be a combination of all our services, or not. One barrier in the design field is that architects, interior designers and ad agencies offer single solutions. We break the mold on that.”

Shea Inc. is currently working with Macy’s, which is an extension of a long-term design partnership with Marshall Field’s (and prior to that, Dayton’s/Target). Extensive work with Macy’s food division includes concept development and design of restaurants, foodservice areas, retail spaces and a culinary studio at Macy’s flagship store on State Street in Chicago. Shea has also developed package designs for Macy’s private labeled coffees and gourmet food products, and the company is now working closely with several members of Macy’s Culinary Council, a consortium of celebrity chefs associated with the brand, on several new food service concepts to be rolled out in Macy’s stores nationwide.

While more than half of Shea’s work includes restaurants, hotels and retail stores, the company’s breadth of work also includes marketing and design for corporate office properties and financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and TCF in the Midwest region.  

Catering to the Client
For one project, the company was approached by an individual with a failing nightclub who needed help determining what to do next. “He didn’t know what to do, but he had a great location,” Shea recalls. “He put his trust in us to choose the right concept and business solution – it just had to be a restaurant. We looked at the target market and did some analysis of the customers: Where are they coming from? What are the current trends? We talked to him about the food and what kind of service model he could handle.”

At some point, the discussion leaned to the client’s personal background, and the company discovered his grandfather, Harry, had been a well-known chef years earlier in neighboring St. Paul. Harry was popular with customers, had quirky mannerisms, and had a particular fondness for Grain Belt beer, Shea says. The design team was inspired by the stories, and they worked to develop the new concept – Harry’s Food & Cocktails – around the legend of the client’s grandfather, ultimately leading to a friendly neighborhood bar and eatery.

Shea Inc. began by completely gutting the 5,000-square-foot space and added dark hardwood floors, a fireplace, lots of booth seating, a new large island bar, and an expansive open kitchen. Dark wood and white subway tile is complemented with warm finishes and fabrics. Decorative elements include custom glass light fixtures, framed black-and-white photography of Harry’s friends and family, and a chandelier made from nearly 450 Grain Belt Premium beer bottles.  

Shea Inc. also assisted with design of the new logo, menus, uniforms and signage. “We also helped with the public relations aspect,” Shea says. “It was a very vertical project that went from early concept to completion with a special focus on the grandfather. Now, it’s a successful restaurant.”

Shea Inc. also worked on portions of the Midtown Exchange in Minneapolis, a reworking of an abandoned one-million-square-foot Sears Roebuck building that was transformed into an “urban landmark” with rental and condominium housing, a hotel, office space, retail, restaurants and the Midtown Global Market, an international bazaar with approximately 60 food and specialty vendors, the company says. The project was completed in June 2006.

“Midtown Exchange is located in a section of Minneapolis that was wedged between two different neighborhoods and in transition, but not in the right way,” Shea says. “It needed to have something fresh happening, so our mission was to brand the area and bring a sense of pride to the neighborhood. There were many components to the project – communicating the message to the region and residents, as well as retailers and local artists. The Midtown Global Market features the work of emerging immigrants, and for some, this is their first job.    

“The project became a lightning rod and model for many adaptive reuse projects,” he adds. “It’s been a very successful development.”

Strategic Location
Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is centrally located for its domestic and global customers, Shea says. “We have worked all over Europe and  in China,” he explains. “We’ve been working on a major retail project in China, providing them with resources on how to do American retail, food systems and hospitality. We are registered as an architect in over 35 states, and I personally carry national registration."

Shea says the company plans to stay relatively small, with a staff of 35, to maintain its ability to be flexible and collaborative. “Everyone here works together on projects,” he says. “When you have architects, interior designers, writers, marketing people and graphic artists, you don’t want to make it so big that we’re just personnel managers. We need to have a free flow of ideas. We don’t want to be a mega-firm that’s just a bunch of bodies moving around.    

“It’s unique to be so vertical,” he continues. “A lot of bigger firms have silos for architecture and interior design.

“For us, evolution is looking around the corner. It’s always seeking and challenging – something I’ve been doing from the beginning – breaking down barriers in creative differences.”