DETROIT (AP) — The once-dilapidated, monolithic Michigan Central train station — for decades a symbol of Detroit’s decline — is getting new life after a massive, six-year, multimillion-dollar renovation to create a hub for commuters. mobility projects as part of the automobile renaissance. City.
The imposing, scavenger-ravaged structure that ominously darkened the city’s Corktown neighborhood is now home to Ford Motor Co. and the centerpiece of a sprawling 30-acre (12-hectare) mobility innovation district.
The building’s first tenant, Google’s Code Next Detroit computer science education program, is expected to move in by the end of June. Grand opening ceremonies include an outdoor concert on Thursday, with public tours beginning Friday.
“The train station…it’s perhaps Michigan’s most powerful story about the power of historic renovation,” said Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “To turn something that was in shambles into something that is extremely attractive and is an anchor rather than a deficit is huge.”
The restoration effort — part of the automaker’s more than $900 million project to create a place where new transportation and mobility ideas are nurtured and developed — was every bit as massive as the size of the old building more than a century old, 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²). -square meter).
In numbers:
__ More than 3,100 workers dedicated approximately 1.7 million work hours to the station and surrounding public spaces
__ 29,000 Gustavino tiles were restored in its Great Hall
__8.6 million miles (13.8 million kilometers) of new grout were installed on the 21,000 square foot (1,951 square meter) ceiling
__ 8 million bricks, 23,000 square feet (2,138 square meters) of marble floors and 90,000 square feet (8,361 square meters) of decorative plaster were restored or reproduced.
__ 3.5 million gallons (13.2 million liters) of water were pumped from the basement
__ Installation of 300 miles (482 kilometers) of electrical cables and wiring and 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) of plumbing
“I always hoped that this project would be a catalyst for bringing the city and our industry closer to the future,” Bill Ford, executive chairman of the automaker and great-grandson of its legendary founder, Henry Ford, told the Associated Press. week. “It’s always the future. We’re just getting started now. It took us a long time to get here and a lot of hard work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get here.
The station’s history reflects the city’s fortunes during its heyday as the automobile capital of the world and its subsequent misfortunes as thousands of auto workers and other residents fled Detroit for life in the suburbs .
Michigan Central Railroad began purchasing land around 1908 in Corktown, the city’s oldest neighborhood, for the new station, according to HistoricDetroit.org. The depot opened in late 1913. But as train travel gave way to commuter air travel and more Americans chose to use the nation’s highways, the number of people passing through Michigan Central was steadily decreasing.
The Last Train was released in 1988 and for years afterward the building fell into disrepair, neglected and abandoned. It has become a destination for curious people and urban adventurers looking for these places. Other buildings in Detroit, particularly factories, suffered the same or similar fate, but due to the size of Michigan Central, it became a symbol of the city’s decline.
Michigan Central Station Square Manager Melissa Dittmer, right, and CEO Josh Sirefman take a tour of the station, Monday, May 13, 2024 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
The redevelopment by its previous owner never materialized. Then in 2018, Ford announced the purchase of the 18-story building and adjacent structures as part of its plans for a more than 1 million square foot campus focused on autonomous vehicles.
“There’s a lot of innovation going on here,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s chief executive. “The future of the company will be played out here and on campus. This represents our future income.
The project is expected to create thousands of technology-related jobs. Restaurants, new hotels and other service businesses are already setting up shop in and near Corktown.
In December, state officials announced three proposed housing development efforts intended to address housing needs around Central Michigan and the Innovation District.
Michigan Central and several other efforts around Detroit are expected to accelerate Southeast Michigan’s innovation economy, said Baruah, who added that the building and surrounding campus will help attract the best and most innovative minds In the region.
“It’s really a game of attraction. It’s about talent,” he said.
The station’s reopening also comes as Detroit has seemingly gone from national joke to national attraction. Nearly a decade after emerging from its embarrassing bankruptcy, the automobile city has stabilized its finances, improved municipal services, stemmed population losses that have seen more than a million people leave since the 1950s, and made progress in cleaning up its 139 square miles.
Detroit is now a destination for conventions and meetings. Last month, Detroit implemented an attendance record for the NFL draft after more than 775,000 fans flocked to the city center last month for the three-day event.
The buzz around Detroit “is very different nationally,” Bill Ford said.
“I think when people see a project like this, it will really make them exclaim,” he added. “And when we’re trying to recruit people from all over the country and all over the world, wouldn’t you then say to them ‘come to Detroit and let me show you where you can work and play and live, and also live at a price affordable “. ‘”
FILE- The exterior of Michigan Central Station is seen July 13, 2023 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio_File)
The importance of Central Michigan’s revival is not lost on Mayor Mike Duggan, whose administration has returned Detroit to respectability since the city’s 2014 emergence from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history .
“I’ve been waiting for this day for 40 years, as have Detroiters for a long time, so it’s going to be very special,” Duggan said last week. “It will be a very emotional day.”
“The abandoned train station was the national symbol of Detroit’s decline and bankruptcy,” he said. “So the fact that not only has the city come back, but the station has come back in such a spectacular way and that’s the place where we’re going to design the automobiles of the future.” It’s now about the future, not the past.”
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Associated Press reporter Joey Cappelletti in Mackinac Island, Michigan, contributed to this story.