Detroit — Bill Ford’s vision for the future of mobility is crumbling in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.When completed, it will be known as a 110-year-old railway station Michigan Central It will be redeveloped and home to hundreds of Ford employees, as well as a boutique hotel, shops and restaurants. The first phase of Albert Kahn’s 1936 revival of the building, which was formerly used as a book vault and turned into a technology incubator, opened Tuesday.
The 270,000-square-foot building is already home to 33 companies working on drones, self-driving cars, electric vehicle chargers, air pollution monitoring and more. They operate under the umbrella of an organization called new lab, has a similar tech space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Michigan Central is backed by Ford, but the company onsite is free to work with other automakers, and Google has signed on as a partner.
“Having it be Ford alone, it didn’t live up to its full potential,” said executive chairman Bill Ford. “This space will be a place where young companies can really get started.”
Ford, who seemed relaxed after the formal remarks, hung out and played host to politicians (Mayor of Detroit and Lieutenant Governor of Michigan), Edsel Ford II, and the construction company that helped rebuild the site. mingled with the crowd, including employees of
Towering atriums and sophisticated glass workplaces contrasted with unrestored columns and ceilings, lending character and architectural flourishes.regained vitality library depository It was also a post office and mail sorting facility in my previous life. It sat vacant for 35 years after the 1987 fire, but like other projects that have rebuilt much of downtown Detroit, it’s a relatively easy job for a redeveloper. During the 1920s and his 1930s, the skyline soared as the automotive and financial industries flourished. Detroit still boasts one of the most important collections of Art Deco, Beaux-Arts (such as Michigan Central) and Neo-Gothic architecture in the country.
Ford’s work on the book vault was largely an afterthought at first, as the next phase of the project would be the reconstruction of the old train station itself.New York’s Grand The site, designed by the same architect who built Central Station, was built in 1913. corktownmany residents immigrated to the United States from County Cork, Ireland. Home of the former Detroit Tigers The district dates back to 1834 before the team moved downtown. Cobblestone remains in the extension of Michigan He Avenue, and the Corktown residential district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Michigan Central in its heyday Accommodates 200 trains and 4,000 customers, President Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and Harry Truman on rails to the Motor City. The building has been vacant since the last train left in 1988 and was later demolished due to vandalism. With faded facades and broken windows, Michigan Central has become one of his in the city. the most notorious eyesore.
Since Ford purchased the building in 2018, the interior has been demolished, the windows replaced, and the grounds tidied up. Upon completion, it will be the pinnacle of the 30-acre campus, home to Ford employees and other development facilities, as well as outreach and educational programs to the surrounding community.
CEO Natalie King Dynamis Charge, a growing EV charger maker in Central Michigan, probably sums up the project best. “As a native Detroiter born and raised, I think I can say, on behalf of all Detroiters today, that it’s really, really cool to see this and see the revival. It’s a phenomenon.”
