DETROIT | Ford Michigan Central Station - Corktown Developements

[DetroitRises]

Figured we should have a thread for the Ford/MCS news Coming up next week and beyond. It’s going going to change the face of Corktown and the city for years to come.

[LMich]

Robin Buckson | The Detroit News

Central Depot message: 'It will rise from the ashes'

The Detroit News

June 15, 2018

Three days after the iconic structure was sold to the Ford Motor Co., the Michigan Central Depot facade featured two Latin mottos that point to its future.

"Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus" was highlighted across the front of the cavernous,18-story vacant structure on Thursday. Quoting Father Gabriel Richard, pastor of Ste. Anne’s Catholic Church, the first Catholic church in Michigan in 1701, the phrases mean: "We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes." The mottos reference a fire that destroyed Detroit in 1805, according to http://fgrhs.org.

Ford announced Monday that it had bought the former train depot and plans to anchor its next-generation mobility, autonomy and electrification work in the 104-year-old station.

Manuel "Matty" Moroun's family's real estate arm Central Transport International Inc. sold the depot, acquired in 1992, to the automaker.

We find out about the plans next Tuesday.

[Steely Dan]

it's been a LONG time coming, but this is so freaking cool!

i can't believe that this magnificent structure really is going to be reborn into a new life, and serve as a catalyst to revive the area surrounding it.

it's just awesome. it might just be the greatest preservation comeback story ever told.

[Busy Bee]

Yeah, this is the definition of 'turning point.' It doesn't seem that long ago that the suggestion of this level of investment in MCS would have been met with a laugh. Now it's real. I will reiterate what many others also believe and hope and that is a desire that in some way the base remains a transportation station and in the future could grow in that function. Many other historic train stations have been relegated to children's museums and banquet halls - not that that is an inherently improper use considering the reality on the ground in some places - but hopefully MCS will at least in some capacity in the future function at least partially in the way it was designed to while having an energetic and dynamic use of space in the offices above.

[DetroitRises]

The Detroit Free Press, 6/15/2018
By John Gallagher
https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...act/697756002/

Trying to sum up the significance of Ford’s plans for the Michigan Central Station, a quote by Winston Churchill seems apt.

“Now, this is not the end,” Churchill said of an early Allied victory in World War II. “It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

[seabee1526]

I am hoping for something along the lines of the Ford Rotunda that burned down in Dearborn. This would be great if Ford can make an attraction like the old rotunda was.

[LMich]

Tonight's quote on MCS from Ford Motor Co.'s twitter account:



Honestly, Ford is doing a brilliant, next-level job marketing this renovation.


Michelle & Chris Gerard


Michelle & Chris Gerard

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Yeah, this is the definition of 'turning point.' It doesn't seem that long ago that the suggestion of this level of investment in MCS would have been met with a laugh. Now it's real. I will reiterate what many others also believe and hope and that is a desire that in some way the base remains a transportation station and in the future could grow in that function. Many other historic train stations have been relegated to children's museums and banquet halls - not that that is an inherently improper use considering the reality on the ground in some places - but hopefully MCS will at least in some capacity in the future function at least partially in the way it was designed to while having an energetic and dynamic use of space in the offices above.

MCS is a terminal station except for trains going to Canada. The Wolverine right now would not use it, as it is not conducive to the current service that extends through the New Center station to Pontiac.

Possibly the Pontiac section could be split out into a local commuter operation like the ever-planned SEMCOG train to Ann Arbor, and all three trains terminated at MCS, but then there's no convenient way to get from MCS to downtown anymore. Detroit would have to build a costly streetcar or something down Michigan Ave. New Center already has the QLine to take riders downtown.

[The North One]

An extension of the streetcar onto Michigan Avenue is likely to happen though.

I think in the distant future when Canada gets it's high-speed rail corridor built up a connection to MCS would be great.

[Docta_Love]

I have to agree that Bill Ford has really gone ahead and seized and opportunity that became apparent from Detroit's Amazon bid and ran with it. I've been watching the Crain's interview with Bill Ford he envisions "a mobility corridor along Michigan Ave from Corktown to Dearborn and then on to Metro Airport, Willow Run, Ypsilanti & Ann Arbor.

There is a full video interview with Bill Ford available for Crain's subscribers some highlights are:

He recognizes and admits that we are "in a war for talent" and further more that Ford has not invested in it's R&D facilities "when they had opportunities to in the past and then when a down turn came along it was one of the easiest things to cut, this time though we said we are going to invest this money in the future and not touch it". He goes on to detail how the money for this project was already budgeted for in campus improvement plans and how this is one part of a broader plan first detailed in 2016 for Ford to update it's "antiquated facilities".

I like the idea of a high-tech M-12 corridor it's not an entirely new idea but its needed something to kick start it. Ford's redevelopment of MCD and with the creation and integration of a Corktown campus into a broader regional mobility, transportation - logistics & aerospace district along the Michigan Ave axis from Ann Arbor to Detroit is an ambitious goal that would help the region compete better in the digital age.

Originally Posted by The North One

An extension of the streetcar onto Michigan Avenue is likely to happen though.

There were a lot of reasons for eye rolling when Mathew Moroun talked about playing the role Roger Penske did as someone ready and willing to help bring parties to the table for a Michigan Ave street car & possible use of MCD as an inter-modal transit center. But Bill Ford does envision the main concourse area as something like San Francisco's Ferry Terminal and hasn't ruled trains out but says that's not Ford's place.

Ford's future: Train station to be part of new transportation model

By CHAD LIVENGOOD
Crain's Detroit Business
June 17, 2018

-Ford Motor Co. aims to have 2,500 employees in Corktown
-Wants to renovate the Michigan Central Station by 2022
-Envisions creating a autonomous-vehicle technology hub



"I would love for this to be like the Sand Hill Road of Michigan, where entrepreneurs, startups (and) partners all want to come and be part of this creation process," Ford said, referring to the California road where venture capitalists fueled the meteoric rise of Silicon Valley.

"That would be amazing to me, and I think that can happen. Because the future of mobility should be created in Detroit — and I believe it will be."

The automaker's bid to use the derelict train station as the anchor for a 1.2 million-square-foot Corktown campus hinges on getting suppliers and technology companies involved in the development of autonomous vehicles to join them in Detroit.

Open to the public

The automaker will formally detail its Corktown and train station plans at Tuesday's event — a long-awaited homecoming of sorts for a company Henry Ford founded in Detroit 115 years ago this month.

Ford's last employees left the Renaissance Center in 1996 for Dearborn after the company sold the riverfront skyscrapers developed in the mid-1970s by Henry Ford II to crosstown rival General Motors Co.

Unlike the RenCen, Bill Ford Jr. wants the train station to be accessible to Detroiters and visitors alike.

"It's really important that we become part of the community and that we're not isolated or insulated from it," Ford said.

The goal, Bill Ford said, is to ensure the train station doesn't become "a corporate island."

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ortation-model


Edit; here's an article I picked out of the AP feed.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett reveals details about how he's reinventing the 115-year-old car company (F)

-Ford has developed a massive development plan for a new-mobility corridor stretching from Detroit through its revamped headquarters in Dearborn to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
-CEO Jim Hackett is bringing his "design thinking" innovation and management approach to the task of remaking the 100-plus-year-old company.
-Ford has bought a huge, crumbling rail station near downtown Detroit and intends to combine it with a plan to revive the city's Corktown neighborhood to be a center of the carmaker's Smart Mobility efforts.

This is an old rendering (2016) of part the new Dearborn Campus which is still to be built minus the AV/EV groups which will go into MCD & Corktown. As Ford seems to be aiming at a broader scope it seems appropriate to include.



https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-...040100504.html

[dc_denizen]

fantastic news!

[mind field]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

it's been a LONG time coming, but this is so freaking cool!

i can't believe that this magnificent structure really is going to be reborn into a new life, and serve as a catalyst to revive the area surrounding it.

it's just awesome. it might just be the greatest preservation comeback story ever told.

Completely agree! Many of us never would have dreamed something like this would happen. I'm so thankful that Ford is investing in Michigan Central Station and look forward to what the details will be during tomorrow's press conference.

[the urban politician]

I’m stoked about the possibilities here. Can’t wait to see what happens!

[JonathanGRR]

While not the most notable of stories amidst all of the MCS news, this was certainly a heartwarming read:

Thief returns train station clock, thanks Ford for believing in Detroit
Phoebe Wall Howard Detroit Free Press | June 19, 2018

A thief who stole a clock that hung on a Michigan Central Station gateway for decades in Detroit reached out to anonymously return the antique timepiece, sending Ford to an abandoned building to retrieve it.

The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn received a phone call Friday afternoon saying that the depot clock existed and wanted to "go home." Museum officials immediately contacted Ford Motor Land Development Corp. and The Ford Archives.

Within hours, text messages were exchanged with the "donor," said Dave Dubensky, chairman and CEO of Ford Land. Ford bought the train station, which closed in 1988 and became a symbol of Detroit's ruin, from the Moroun family and has plans to restore the building.

The exchange went like this:

Thief: "I only have the clock. No other material. I left it leaning against a burned-out building on Lawton. It is between Warren and Buchanan. The building is between the train tracks and 4470 Lawton. Please send two men and a truck immediately. It has been missing for over 20 years and is ready to go home. Thank you so much."

Ford Land: "Thank you! I will try to send a crew right now."

Thief: "Please have them lay it face up in the truck. The paint is very delicate. You can tell the front from the back by looking at the exposed legs."

Ford maintenance workers heading home for the day offered to stop and pick up the item in their large truck. They found the package carefully wrapped in moving blankets leaning against the wall in an overgrown lot with abandoned tires.

...

"This shows just how much emotion is attached to what we’re doing," he said. "This individual went through all this work to return the clock. We'd like to ask any others who might have a piece of history and want to return it to please call, no questions asked. We'll come get the pieces anywhere, anytime."

He provided the number for his assistant Donnell Elwood, 313-322-1092.

"We did have architects and historians familiar with these pieces," Dubensky said. "They looked at paint samples and compared the clock to pictures of the building. They validated it's real this morning."

He added, "We are so happy that this individual reached out to us to return the clock. Thank you. We are grateful to have it in our possession."
...

https://eu.freep.com/story/money/car...ock/710459002/

[mrnyc]

just the best news ever. i was expecting it though given detriots resurgence.

[animatedmartian]

• Video Link

[subterranean]

MCS in that video, even if just an animation, has me super excited. It's amazing to me that they have so much thought put into this already, even through the presentation. It's clear this has been on their radar for awhile and the are PR'ing the crap out of it, as well they should. Ford just won over a generation.

[Docta_Love]

Well said.

[LMich]

It's weird, because Ford has always been the most conservative and least risky of the Big Three. But Bill Ford, Jr. ended up being a really eccentric and unconventional person. His great-grandfather is rolling over in his grave knowing that Bill is going in big on Detroit...and that's a good change. Henry hated urbanism and thus he disliked the hustle-and-bustle of Detroit (it's why the company never left Dearborn), even as his business help drive the city to grow further and further out from tis center. Oh, the irony.

Anyway, 5,000 employees over the next few years is going to be something significant for Corktown, to put it lightly. There weren't even 1,500 in this whole area at the 2010 Census. I'm really interested to see how Ford handles all of this new traffic. Will they run some commuter rail up from behind the station to Dearborn? Will they take their ridersharing service to the next level? Will there be some express service (light rail or bus) on Michigan Avenue? I do hope they aren't planning for everyone to come to work in their individual cars, because even as wide as Michigan is, that'd would be a nightmare.

[subterranean]

I guess I don't see the issue there. It's not like the whole of Ford's workforce is coming from Dearborn. They're coming form all over the region. And I think Ford is expecting the new folks to be young people who actually might want to live in Detroit.