Michigan Central Station is no longer abandoned after decades of vacancy. Ford Motor Company has purchased the 18-story building and executive chairman Bill Ford plans on upgrading.
Bill Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford, issued the following statements:
“I kept staring at the train station thinking, ‘What if? Wouldn’t that be amazing? If all we did was to restore this fabulous building and make it sparkle, that would be great. But we’re going to do much more than that. It’s really about creating the future of transportation. And doing it in Corktown.”
Corktown is the Detroit neighborhood where the building resides.
Michigan Central Station was erected in 1913 and sits in the heart of Detroit. The building was designed by the architects who worked on New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. Back in its heyday, the station was filled with thousands of Detroiters.
Bill Ford currently serves as the company’s executive chairman and has expressed his emotional connection to the area. When asked about the decaying building, Ford explained that “It was like a knife through my heart”. The Ford family began their venture in Detroit back in 1903 and later moved the company headquarters to Dearborn Michigan.
Back when Michigan Central Station was built it was the tallest train station in the world. The space used to be a beautiful piece of art.
The building still has tall windows, marble floors, and an arched ceiling, but now the media sends out photographs of the station to portray the decay of Detroit’s economy. The building has been empty for decades and is littered with wildlife and intruders on the regular.
So, what does this all mean for the city of Detroit? Ford owns several other properties in the same neighborhood with plans to continue to invest money into Corktown. There will certainly be an increase in jobs. Thousands of tech-related jobs are scheduled to surge. Ford has big plans to rejuvenate the Motor City.
Featured Image via Flickr/JD Hancock
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