DETROIT | Development & Construction: Motown Lowdown

[202_Cyclist]

Good article with some nice photos. It is good to see Ford doing this and investing in the revitalization of Detroit.


Ford Aims to Revive a Detroit Train Station, and Itself
By renovating a symbol of the city’s decline, the company hopes to create a magnet for the talent needed to prevail in the next automotive era.

By Neal E. Boudette
June 17, 2018
NY Times

"DETROIT — For the past year, Ford Motor has been working on a plan to reinvigorate its operations and jump-start profit growth. Now, as that strategy is just being put into place, the automaker is taking on another big renovation project: the city of Detroit and the hulking remains of its dilapidated train station.

Ford has purchased the Michigan Central Station, the abandoned and graffiti-covered 18-story office tower and train station that looms over the Corktown neighborhood. With its smashed and darkened windows, the station had long stood as the most recognizable symbol of Detroit’s decades of decline..."

[Docta_Love]

Thanks for the post, I was just thinking that there should be an update here on the development page with all the recent updates on the dedicated thread in the general development. Is there a link to the article btw?

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by Docta_Love

Thanks for the post, I was just thinking that there should be an update here on the development page with all the recent updates on the dedicated thread in the general development. Is there a link to the article btw?

Thanks for pointing out that there is now a seperate, dedicated thread for MCS. I must have blinked and missed it.

Here is the link to the article that 202_Cyclist posted, BTW -

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/business/ford-detroit-station.html

[Docta_Love]

Thanks for posting a link I always enjoy reading an outside take.

Here's a pic from the article of some work on some formally trashed limestone columns I thought was worth posting.



Nick Hagen, New York Times

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by deja vu

Thanks for pointing out that there is now a seperate, dedicated thread for MCS. I must have blinked and missed it.

Here is the link to the article that 202_Cyclist posted, BTW -

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/business/ford-detroit-station.html

Mea culpa-- I posted in great haste and forgot to post the link.

[subterranean]

What an undertaking this is going to be. Hopefully we can see some of the interior detail work while it's being completed.

[DetroitSky]

Did anyone attend the MCS event earlier? If so, anything notable to report? I got there too late, sadly.

[LMich]

Article on this:

Ford says it plans to put housing in Detroit train station

By JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press

June 19, 2018

Michigan Central Station could soon be Detroit's hottest residential address.

The automaker said Tuesday that it plans to open several floors of housing in the old depot as part of building's coming top-to-bottom redevelopment, set for completion in 2022.

These residential floors will be in addition to office floors and retail space. The total number of residences, as well as their target demographics and location in the building, has yet to be determined, said Ford spokesman Karl Henkel.

Campus:



Not as many details as I'd imagined, but we did find out the office tower is going to be 2/3 offices space, 1/3 residential. Oh, and here is an piece by Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley advocating for a partial usage as, you know...a train station.

Ryan Garza | Detroit Free Press

Fords step up to transform Detroit again. Now just one more thing: I want a train

By Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press

June 19, 2018

But you know what happens when you give someone something: They always want more. So dear Mr. Ford … as you and your team who have given so much hope to the city’s oldest neighborhood, to the state’s largest city and to urban meccas everywhere trying to get it right, we need one more thing:

A train.

Yes, the building will be a majestic hub that will bring employees and panache to Corktown. Yes, it will change not just the skyline, but the narrative about ruin 🞵🞵🞵🞵 in Detroit.

But the station, first and foremost, is a station. And as the Ford team works on developing brilliance and innovation, I hope that, in addition to retail and office space, it will have a short walk to a long track that will bring people to the New Detroit the old way.

I'm going to be a broken record on this one just like Riley until it's confirmed either way. lol

[hammersklavier]

It occurs to me that even if the main waiting hall doesn't get turned into a train station, there should still be a large baggage room under the platforms which can get turned into a train station in its own right. But the complex is clearly designed for the waiting hall to be the main entrance, and it'd be a neat trick trying to create an entirely new train station entrance from scratch.

[LMich]

Since it was a waiting hall with various travel-related retail outlets to begin with, so long as it's publicly accessible, there would really be no need or reason to not have it be the entrance to a station there. Access to the platforms was controlled at the back of the concourse which was located at the back of the building opposite the larger Waiting room.



It's really not about it being physically or logistically difficult to reuse it for its original purpose - D.C.'s Union Stations functions fine as both basically an indoor mall and trains active, busy trains station - but more about whether there is the political will to fund transit at an acceptable level, something that's eluded the region for decades, now.

[hammersklavier]

True, but keep in mind that station needs can drive facilities. Michigan Central would have both commuter and intercity functions, and you'll have to design a station where the two users don't get in each other's way; in addition, if you want VIA to be extended across the Detroit River, you'll need a dedicated international area with passport control.

Come to think of it, asking Ford to provide modern station facilities for commuter, Amtrak, and Via services to terminate there, shouldn't be too much of an ask, since it would mostly be space assignation in areas that Ford is intending to keep public anyway. The Via facilities would be the most difficult, though.

Edit: Something else that needs to happen? Agitation for better intercity service to Detroit. I'm thinking of a Midwest HSR-type organization, except Detroit-centric and not necessarily high-speed. A citizen's group willing to do the outreach and legwork that neither the city, nor state, nor Amtrak are willing to do. Basically, you'd be wanting them to advocate for Wolverine-style service from Detroit to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Lansing and Grand Rapids, and somewhere near the top of the mitten, as well as extending VIA service through Windsor to Detroit.

[DetroitSky]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

True, but keep in mind that station needs can drive facilities. Michigan Central would have both commuter and intercity functions, and you'll have to design a station where the two users don't get in each other's way; in addition, if you want VIA to be extended across the Detroit River, you'll need a dedicated international area with passport control.

Come to think of it, asking Ford to provide modern station facilities for commuter, Amtrak, and Via services to terminate there, shouldn't be too much of an ask, since it would mostly be space assignation in areas that Ford is intending to keep public anyway. The Via facilities would be the most difficult, though.

The international crossing could be done by Amtrak or VIA. I know Amtrak has a few routes that go into Canada currently, but I don’t think VIA has any that come into the US. The idea of having a route to Toronto/Montreal from MCS probably won’t happen, but it would be cool if it did. I haven’t heard anyone discuss it besides us here.

There are also 6-8 tracks behind the station with underground rooms beneath them and a large area to add more tracks if the need arose. The rooms below the tracks could potentially be used for customs between the waiting room and platforms.

I feel like the amount of tracks there currently is more than enough to manage the Amtrak Wolverine, a potential Amtrak/VIA route to Toronto/Montreal and potential commuter rail to Ann Arbor and Pontiac.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by DetroitSky

The international crossing could be done by Amtrak or VIA. I know Amtrak has a few routes that go into Canada currently, but I don’t think VIA has any that come into the US. The idea of having a route to Toronto/Montreal from MCS probably won’t happen, but it would be cool if it did. I haven’t heard anyone discuss it besides us here.

There are also 6-8 tracks behind the station with underground rooms beneath them and a large area to add more tracks if the need arose. The rooms below the tracks could potentially be used for customs between the waiting room and platforms.

I feel like the amount of tracks there currently is more than enough to manage the Amtrak Wolverine, a potential Amtrak/VIA route to Toronto/Montreal and potential commuter rail to Ann Arbor and Pontiac.

Extending Amtrak to Windsor would be stupid awkward here, especially considering that in the first phase as a passenger station, Wolverine trains would reverse at MCS -- at least, until commuter or regional or both services can pick up the route between the city and Pontiac. By contrast, VIA to MCS is a very natural extension: you just come out of the tunnel and terminate here. It's actually the opposite situation than you get at Seattle or Toronto, where the natural corridors favor Amtrak service into Canada rather than vice versa.

PS. This would also be an integral part for a Canadian dream -- VIA service to Chicago.

[LMich]

This is really better fit for the Detroit transit thread in that subforum, but I think you're maybe overstating the difficulty of truncating the line at MCS. The Wolverine didn't even cover Oakland County until 1994. This part of the route was added essentially because Oakland County had lost their commuter service, and they were throwing them a bone. The problem, however, is that the change slowed down the trip; that part of the route never made sense. To put this in perspective, fewer than 75,000 people used the three station north of Detroit last year, barely more than the John Dingell Transit Center - the first stop west of Detroit - did that year. The geography just doesn't make since for it as a leg on the line if you ask me.

That said, I'd imagine any plan that could recenter service at MCS would also be done concurrently with replacing service along the current line that serves Oakland County. It'd actually be better if they moved service back to MCS given how much the turns in the city slow down the trip, even with track improvements in recent years. Get some Amtrak buses to replace that part of the route, and then the RTA and region can decided if they want commuter rail along that line, again. It's not like the route through the county was being used as part of an intercity route (at least I don't believe it was) connecting to MCS before, or that people weren't getting to the station from everywhere in the region regardless of a direct connection. That particular part of the line (now owned CN and Conrail) was used for commuter and intercity terminating at Brush Street Station where the RenCen is, today. Anyone coming down that line from Oakland County who needed to get to MCS had to transfer, anyway.

1. In other news, I was looking through the upcoming Planning and Economic Development Committee agenda, and noticed that the Planning & Development Department requested that the Planning Commission amend off-street parking requirements and allowances for certain areas of the city. Specifically, they are looking to add areas where the requirements are reduced. Currently, the necessary parking has to be located within 100 feet of the sited land use where the land use is within a half-mile of a high-frequency transit corridor. The amended ordinance would stretch that requirement out from the land-use near the transit line to a quarter-mile, so from 100 feet to 1,320 feet. So whereas outside of downtown (no requirement) and Midtown (1.0 spaces per dwelling) a multi-family building requires 1.25 spaces per dwelling unit, this would lower it to 0.75 spaces per dwelling unit.

2. And speaking of reduced parking, Planning & Development also wants to extended parking exemptions to New Center, which would consists of 22 city blocks. Currently only the B-5 and PC districts in downtown are exempted from parking requirements. The department argues that this reflects the master plan which identifies both downtown and New Center as CM-Major Commerical, the only two such designations in the city. So it looks like the plan for New Center is to basically finish what was started when it was first developed, and that's to promote it as a major commercial node as opposed to the more mixed-use Midtown. The City Planning Commission recommended these changes at their last meeting, so it goes to city council.

3. Lastly, the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority is wanting to do some upgrades to the City-County Building, of which one will add an enclosed security pavilion on the Larned side to control access before people enter the building proper. Apparently, it's something they've been wanting to do since 9/11 for security reasons, but the added benefit is that it'd open up the ground floor of the building a bit for other programming since that's currently where screening takes place.

[Docta_Love]

There has been on and off talk about upgrading the rain tunnel that runs under the Straits of Detroit it’s not high or wide enough to fit the largest container cars CSX uses so the main U.S. - Canadaian rail connection in the metro area is at Port Huron. There was a plan to convert it into a truck traffic specific tunnel while the Ambassador Bridge would have been passenger vehicles only, this plan was dropped along with a plan to upgrade the tunnel for the largest CSX containers.

Now that there is a hsr plannled between Toronto and Windsor perhaps the rail
Tunnel will get a second look.

[LMich]

Guys, I'm officially relieved:

Known for frozen body, building near train station to get Ford revamp

By Detroit Free Press

June 21, 2018

Ford Motor Co. is looking to construct at least one new building for its future Detroit campus in Corktown and could put penthouse condominiums in a renovated Michigan Central Station.

And Ford's plans for the vacant Detroit Public Schools Book Depository, adjacent to the long-empty train station at 2231 Dalzelle, could include new offices, retail and even housing.

Mas:

Other new details shared Thursday included:

- Ford plans to preserve some of the train tracks behind the station, in case passenger trains come back in vogue.
- Structural experts spent six months examining the 1913 train station and found it structurally sound.
- Ford has received about two dozen calls from people considering returning lost or stolen objects from the train station.
- There is no plan to build any large Ford employees-only fitness center in Corktown. "We want to force them to go out into the community."

Y mas:

Ford's entire Corktown campus would encompass 1.2 million square feet, spread across four buildings.

The four buildings are:

- Michigan Central Station (600,000 square feet).
- The Factory at 1907 Michigan Ave., which houses about 200 advanced car technology workers.
- The vacant Detroit Public Schools Book Depository, adjacent to the depot at 2231 Dalzelle, known as the Roosevelt Warehouse.
- The former brass factory at 2051 Rosa Parks.

Kind of weird wording "in vogue" given how many stations have been rebuilt in the state and the millions of dollars in improvements the state has made along the Wolverine's route; it's not like Michiganders aren't riding trains, already. Really, it should be worded "Whenever the region is about to support the RTA." But, just happy to hear they aren't closing off the possibility.

[deja vu]

Yes, "in-vogue" implies to me a non-committal, wait-and-see approach. Strange choice of words indeed. But at least the door to the possibility of bringing a station back here is still very much open.

[Busy Bee]

^Agree. Very weird way of talking about the most efficient way of moving large amounts of people. Also just a bizarre way to describe such a thing in general. It's like saying 🞵🞵🞵 is "in vogue" because you are starting to have some.

[Docta_Love]

Indeed strange wording it may have been a direct quotation so they just left it open to interpretation. One reason for my thinking is because of the video interview I watched by Crain's where Bill Ford interviewed, he said "he was leaving the door open to the idea of trains but that's not what we (Ford) do". It may be that they are watching how riders respond to the newly improved HSR between Detroit & Chicago as well as other newly offered options such as watching ridership numbers before perhaps partnering up with some entity who "does do trains".

Ford plans to build about 600,000-square-foot building on Alchemy site in Corktown

By KIRK PINHO
Crain's Detroit Business
June 21, 2018

-Ford Land to tear down old brass factory with environmental issues
-It will redevelop vacant site as it builds out its Corktown campus
-Automaker "done with our (property) assemblage for now"



The Alchemy building, once a brass factory, sits on nearly 3 acres of land on Rosa Parks Boulevard in Detroit.

Ford Land Development Co. plans to tear down an old brass factory in Corktown and redevelop the vacant site with a large new building, the head of Ford's real estate division said this week.

CEO and Chairman Dave Dubensky told Crain's that The Alchemy building at 2051 Rosa Parks Blvd. has significant environmental issues that need to be addressed, so instead of repurposing the property it will be leveled.

"From our perspective there's no way to remediate the issues there," he said. "Our teams tell me they gotta take out about 6 feet of soil. You've got to scrape out 6 feet of soil. It's not historic, really no architectural value, so we'd probably scrape that one, take out the soil and build something knew there."

The new building would rival the Michigan Central Station in terms of square footage, with about 500,000-600,000 square feet of mixed-use space.

On Tuesday, Ford Motor Co. formally announced its plans for a 1.2 million-square-foot campus in the Corktown neighborhood west of downtown Detroit, anchored by the vacant train station on 15th Street that hasn't been used in 30 years.

It's part of a push for tech and engineering talent as the Dearborn-based automaker looks to develop autonomous and electric vehicles. The first step in Ford's campus was acquiring The Factory at Corktown, a 45,000-square-foot building on Michigan Avenue east of the train station, which had been owned by the Moroun family for more than two decades.

The deal for The Alchemy building has not yet closed. It sits on nearly 3 acres of land and is being marketed by Farmington Hills-based Friedman Integrated Real Estate Solutions LLC.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/201...000-square-foot-building-on-alchemy-site

[deja vu]

^ I guess I agree that the Alchemy Building doesn't exhibit much architectural greatness. And holy wahh - if there's 6 feet of contaminated soil in the picture, leveling it doesn't really absolve Ford of having to spend a ton of money on environmental abatement. But I suppose it does reduces the cost somewhat. My two questions are (1) do they plan on building something with any height to it for the property, and (2) what does the future look like for the several residential blocks sandwiched in-between this property and MCS?

I suppose we should shift this discussion back towards the MCS thread.