{"id":20633,"date":"2024-06-03T06:00:40","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T06:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigancentral.com\/?p=20633"},"modified":"2024-06-04T15:25:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T15:25:14","slug":"a-new-beginning-ford-to-reopen-michigan-central-station-after-multi-year-historic-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigancentral.com\/a-new-beginning-ford-to-reopen-michigan-central-station-after-multi-year-historic-restoration\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Beginning: Ford to Reopen Michigan Central Station after Multi-Year Historic Restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Station welcomes Ford innovation teams among first occupants; will open dedicated floor for youth programming later this month<\/em><\/p>\n

First renderings offer details of a new, multi-use public park under development at former rail yard south of The Station<\/em><\/p>\n

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DETROIT, June 3, 2024 – Following an extensive six-year renovation by Ford Motor Company, Michigan Central Station will offer the public a first look at the interior restoration of its historic ground floor this week. The Station officially welcomes the community back to share in its historic reopening during Michigan Central OPEN from June 6-16.<\/p>\n

Ford embarked on the preservation project after acquiring the abandoned train station in 2018 to be the centerpiece of Michigan Central, a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit\u2019s Corktown neighborhood. Michigan Central will bring Ford employees together with external partners, entrepreneurs, students, and even competitors, to co-create new products, services, and technologies that add value to a new generation of Ford customers and help build a better world. While Ford\u2019s investment is crucial to the company\u2019s long-term planning, it also represents a commitment to the city of Detroit and its future, with The Station becoming a beacon of development and opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichigan Central means a great deal to us all. In many ways, this building tells the story of our city,\u201d said Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford. \u201cThis Station was our Ellis Island \u2013 a place where dreamers in search of new jobs and new opportunities first set foot in Detroit. But once the last train pulled out, it became a place where hope left. In 2018, I decided it was time to change that by reimagining this station as a place of possibility again. Over the past six years, Ford Motor Company and teams of forward thinkers, designers, community leaders, and more than 3,000 skilled tradespeople have worked to bring this landmark back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford and Michigan Central assembled a dream team to breathe new life into the stunning Beaux-Arts building \u2013 from its classical fa\u00e7ade to its ornate interiors, including the Grand Hall with its 54-foot Guastavino tile vaulted ceiling, to the arcade, ticket lobby, and restaurant. Since renovations began in late 2018, more than 1.7 million hours have been spent meticulously returning The Station to its original architectural grandeur, while retrofitting it with modern technology and infrastructure to support its next chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted Michigan Central to be beautifully restored but also reimagined for so much more,\u201d Bill Ford said. \u201cThis will be a place for the community to enjoy and a destination for visitors from all over. We will have restaurants, music, art, and great retail. And the innovation that will happen here, with startups and companies big and small, will help ensure Detroit preserves its title as the Motor City for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the thousands of people who contributed to this project, one of the city\u2019s most treasured landmarks has been brought back to life, while creating a space that will take us into the future,\u201d said Joshua Sirefman, CEO of Michigan Central. \u201cMichigan Central will advance mobility solutions that help solve some of society\u2019s biggest challenges. It will also be a powerful catalyst for growth and an economic engine for this region.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ford at Michigan Central\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ford is among the building\u2019s first tenants, and will move employees from its Ford Model e and Ford Integrated Services teams into newly renovated office space across three floors in The Station starting later this year. Ford will also have collaboration space in The Station for other Southeast Michigan-based employees to use. Some 1,000 Ford employees will work across the Michigan Central district by the end of the year, with a goal of 2,500 by 2028.<\/p>\n

Alongside Ford, The Station will play a critical role in attracting other visionary companies to Detroit, and accommodating them within the 30-acre Michigan Central district. The innovation hub will provide 640,000 square feet of cultural, technology, community, and convening spaces designed to inspire creative collaboration between established companies, universities, growing startups, youth initiatives, students, and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n

The Station joins Newlab at Michigan Central, which, in just over a year since its launch, has grown into a diverse community of more than 600 employees from nearly 100 companies and startups, over half of whom have at least one founder from an underrepresented background. With entrepreneurs and inventors focused on fields like advanced aerial mobility, energy equity, and multimodal logistics, Newlab at Michigan Central provides an unparalleled testing environment that includes infrastructure like the first electrified public road and Bagley Mobility Hub, along with policy tools like the Transportation Innovation Zone, which allows for the safe fast-tracking of testing technology pilots.<\/p>\n

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The Station\u2019s storied past and arduous renovation\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally designed by architects Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem, the same team behind New York\u2019s famed Grand Central, Michigan Central Station first opened its doors in 1913 as one of the country\u2019s most spectacular transportation terminals. It saw 4,000 daily passengers at its peak, but, following decades of declining rail travel, was shuttered in 1988 and sat vacant for three decades, experiencing severe neglect, weathering, decay and vandalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur construction teams have accomplished what many thought was impossible,\u201d said Ron Staley, Executive Director of Historic Preservation for Christman-Brinker, the Detroit-based joint venture that led the restoration work. \u201cThe result is amazing, like no other project any of us have worked on in our careers, and I look forward to everyone experiencing the space at this week’s opening and for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Construction teams looked to old and new technologies to ensure accuracy to historical standards and to preserve, re-create, and repurpose different aspects of the building from all chapters of its life. For example, to source more than 600 tons of limestone, Ford and its partners located the same quarry in Indiana that provided the original stone for The Station\u2019s exterior more than 100 years ago. The quarry, like The Station, had been closed for three decades, and needed to be reopened<\/u><\/a> for the project. A Michigan tradesman spent 428 hours<\/u><\/a> hand-carving a replica of a single column capital from one of these limestone blocks for the building\u2019s north entrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything Ford could save, we did, and other elements were re-created through technology and tenacity,\u201d said Melissa Dittmer, Head of Place at Michigan Central. \u201cAt the same time, it was important to us to respect The Station\u2019s extraordinary past, including its ongoing role in Detroit\u2019s cultural landscape. Weaving these histories through repurposed, state-of-the-art spaces will enable us to create an inclusive, forward-looking building that can propel innovation for the next 100 years.”<\/p>\n

To honor The Station\u2019s more recent history, international experts examined and curated graffiti on the building\u2019s walls for preservation. Select sections of this art were saved.<\/p>\n

Additional renovation facts:<\/p>\n