Ford Puts Its Name On Train Station – And A Detroit Neighborhood

DETROIT, MI — It was a party to remember in Corktown Tuesday as the community came together to celebrate the new future of the iconic Michigan Central Station and a momentous time in the city’s history. The Detroit train station was recently bought by Ford, which plans to transform the 105-year-old building built in the city’s Golden Age into office space and a public lobby. It was the origin of mobility for the city of Detroit and Ford’s big plans include making it the future hub of mobility for the Southeast Michigan region, according to leaders.

Ford hosted the public celebration with thousands of Michiganders who came from all across the state, along with local dignitaries and Detroit native and rapper Big Sean — all excited about the new life for Detroit’s most famous ruin and symbol of decay for the last three decades.

Ford Chairman Bill Ford, Jr. spoke highly of the structure, saying it in many ways tells the story of the city.

“For 76 years, the train station was our Ellis Island,” he said during the event. “It was the place where dreamers first set foot in Detroit.”

Ford recalled the first time he saw the inside of the station as a boy, calling it “majestic.”

“But as parts of Detroit hollowed out, so did the train station,” he said. “It’s time for that to change; it’s time to make the train station a place of possibility again.”

Ford said he wants that spirit of hard work, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship that once made the train station of epicenter of transportation that is accessible to all people.

“Mobility makes freedom and progress possible,” he said, challenging the attendees to imagine new ways of the poor and elderly getting groceries and health care, and people without cars getting to work. “Ford wants to be a leader in reimagining cities … that should be the point of technology, to make the world better.”

He added that Corktown’s vibrant startup culture makes it the perfect place to bring some 5,000 Ford employees to transform the region, connecting Corktown to downtown and Detroit to Dearborn and Ann Arbor.

He doesn’t want this to be a corporate takeover, he said, but a collaboration with the community.

“I want the community to help make Corktown the next anchor for Detroit’s big comeback,” he said.

Ford told people the revamped train station would be a “public gathering space” and a “destination place,” with local shops and restaurants on the main floor and modern workspaces above. All restorations will be environmentally friendly, he vowed.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan spoke to the comeback that the infamous building made. He reminded the crowd the time in 2009 when Detroit City Council voted to tear it down, garnering the attention of international media who wanted to document the decay of the iconic station and consequently Detroit’s demise, too.

“There was no hope to bring this building back,” Duggan recalled. “Who would have imaged that within 10 years this site would be home to 5,000 employees and the center of Ford’s strategic direction on mobility.”

For Michiganders who once knew Michigan Central Station in its full glory, the new vision is a welcomed rescue of the defunct depot.

“I remember going on the train with my parents,” said 67-year-old John Perugia, who drove from South Lyon to attend the event with his wife Colette. “I’ve always wondered about it since then and always been concerned that it was going to be torn down.”

Perugia, an avid train collector, is excited to see the new reincarnation of the building when it’s finished (which is expected to be done in 2022).

“If they can retire it to its grandeur, it would be a jewel,” he said.

For most Millennials, Ford’s transformation of the train station means a chance to finally see the inside of the historic structure.

“I grew up in metro Detroit and I’ve always looked at this building and thought it was important to the community,” said Sara Gary, who launched her career at Ford two years ago. “It’s about making an investment in the community. You tell people you care about them when you care where they live. Ford started in Detroit and now we are coming back.”

For young business owners and residents of the city, it also symbolizes a place where great minds come together (or, as Ford CEO Jim Hackett called it, a “knowledge cathedral.”)

Detroit’s youngest entrepreneur, 15-year-old Asia Newton, described herself as a proud Detroiter. She started a candle business with her dad at the age of 5.

“Growing up here I’ve seen the promise of Detroit,” she said at Tuesday’s event. “I’ve also seen the challenges of Detroit and how the people take them on. All of us here today? We are Detroit. We are creators, we are dream makers.”

The event ended with Big Sean’s performance of “Bigger Than Me,” who talked about the significance of being part of this next chapter of Detroit.

“For as long as I can remember this train station has been abandoned,” he said. “This marks the first time that the whole renaissance of Detroit starts to flourish in the neighborhoods. I love the fact that we are continuing to progress and expand … this is the new generation.”

Photos by Jessica Strachan | Patch

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