Dramatic photos show the extent of Ford's $950million transformation of acentury-old Detroit train station set to be automaker's new tech campus.
TheMichiganCentral train station has set empty and derelict for decades, becoming a symbol of Detroit's decline.
But the building has been given a new lease of life following a massive six-year, multimillion-dollar renovation and is now home to Ford Motor Co. and the centerpiece of a sprawling 30-acre mobility innovation district.
The building's first tenant, Google's Code Next Detroit computer science education program, is expected to move in by late June.
Detroit Regional Chamber President and Chief Executive Sandy Baruah said:'It is perhaps the most powerful story in Michigan of the power of historic renovation.'
The Michigan Central train station has sat empty and derelict for decades, becoming a symbol of Detroit's decline
But the building has been given a new lease of life following a massive six-year, multimillion-dollar renovation
'To turn something that was blight into something that is hugely attractive and is an anchor as opposed to a deficit is huge.'
The restoration effort was part of Ford's more than $900 million project to create a place where new transportation and mobility ideas are nurtured and developed.
It is expected to bring with it thousands of tech-related jobs. Restaurants, new hotels and other service-industry businesses already are moving into and near Corktown.
The century-old 500,000-square-foot building and its surrounding grounds took more than 3,100 workers 1.7 million hours of labor to renovate.
The numbers offer a glimpse of the scale of the project.
Workers restored 29,000 Gustavino tiles in its Grand Hall and laid 8.6 million miles of new grout across the 21,000-square-foot ceiling.
They restored and replicated 8 million bricks, 23,000 square feet of marble flooring and 90,000 square feet of decorative plaster.
Bill Ford, the automaker´s executive chair and great-grandson of its legendary founder, Henry Ford said: 'It was always my hope that this project would be a catalyst for moving the city and our industry together into the future.
'It´s always the future. We´re just getting started, now. Took a long time for us to get here and a lot of hard work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this point.'
The restoration effort was part of Ford's more than $900 million project to create a place where new transportation and mobility ideas are nurtured and developed
Workers restored 29,000 Gustavino tiles in its Grand Hall and laid 8.6 million miles of new grout across the 21,000-square-foot ceiling
The train station's history reflects the city's fortunes during its heyday as the world's car capital and later misfortunes as thousands of auto workers and other residents fled Detroit for life in the suburbs.
Michigan Central Railroad started purchasing land around 1908 in Corktown, the city's oldest neighborhood, for the new train station, according to HistoricDetroit.org.
The depot opened in late 1913. But as traveling by train gave way to commuter air travel and as more Americans chose to use the nation's interstates, the numbers of people coming through Michigan Central steadily dropped.
The last train pulled out in 1988and for years after the building fell into disrepair, neglect and abandonment.
It became a destination for the curious and urban adventurers seeking out such places.
The depot opened in late 1913. But as traveling by train gave way to commuter air travel and as more Americans chose to use the nation's interstates, the numbers of people coming through Michigan Central steadily dropped
The last train pulled out in 1988 and for years after the building fell into disrepair, neglect and abandonment
Other buildings in Detroit, particularly factories, suffered the same or similar fate, but due to Michigan Central's size it became a symbol of the city's decline.
Redevelopment by its former owner never materialized.
Then in 2018,Ford announced it was buying the 18-story building and adjacent structures as part of its plans for a more than 1 million square foot campus focusing on autonomous vehicles.
'There's a lot of innovation going on here,' said Jim Farley, Ford chief executive.
'Very much the future of the company is going to be housed here and on the campus. It represents our future revenues.'
It became a destination for the curious and urban adventurers seeking out such places
The abandoned train station was the national symbol of Detroit´s decline and bankruptcy
It was on the cover of Time magazine under the headline `bankruptcy.´
In December, state officials announced three proposed housing development efforts intended to meet housing needs around Michigan Central and the innovation district.
The significance of Michigan Central's rebirth is not lost on Mayor Mike Duggan, whose administration has guided Detroit back to respectability since the city's 2014 exit from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
'I´ve been waiting 40 years for this day and so have all long-time to Detroiters, so it´s going to be very special,' Duggan said last week. 'It´ll be a very emotional day.'
'The abandoned train station was the national symbol of Detroit´s decline and bankruptcy,' he explained.
'It was on the cover of Time magazine under the headline `bankruptcy.´ So the fact that not only has the city come back, but that the train station has come back in such a spectacular way and the place where we´re going to be designing the automobiles of the future. It´s now about the future, not about the past.'
