RENOVATING MICHIGAN CENTRAL

A DETROIT BUILDING EVERY BIT AS ICONIC as New York City’s Grand Central is humming again. Today’s rejuvenated Michigan Central will be more than a railroad station. As described in a news release from michigancentral.com, June 3, 2024, “Following an extensive six-year renovation by Ford Motor Company, Michigan Central Station will offer the public a first look at the interior restoration of its historic ground floor this week.” 

The building becomes the centerpiece of Michigan Central, a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. Corktown, just west of downtown Detroit and largely residential, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bagley Street in Corktown. Image by Brian Mulloy via Wikipedia.

Michigan Central’s Ups and Downs. The news release recounts: “Originally designed by architects Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem, the same team behind New York’s famed Grand Central, Michigan Central Station first opened its doors in 1913 as one of the country’s most spectacular transportation terminals.”

Rebekah Brandes describes in Nice News, June 7, 2024, “At its peak, the Beaux-Arts building saw 4,000 daily visitors, but in 1988, after decades of declining rail travel, it was shuttered. The train station sat vacant for over 30 years, its once-stunningly ornate facade falling victim to weather, vandalism, and neglect. But on Thursday, following a six-year, $950 million renovation, the 18-story structure reopened to much fanfare.”

A Thoughtful Urban Restoration. “It’s the piece de resistance,” Brandes says, “in a massive project by Ford Motor Company. The automotive giant acquired the station in 2018 with plans to transform it and its surrounding area into a 30-acre technology and cultural hub.” 

Brandes continues, “More than 3,000 tradespeople restored the building to its former grandeur, with Ford sourcing limestone from the same quarry in Indiana that supplied the original stones over a century ago.” The Michigan Central news release notes, “The quarry, like The Station, had been closed for three decades, and needed to be reopened for the project.”

Additional Renovation Tidbits: Michigan Central cites, “Restoring the building’s iconic Waiting Room and Grand Hall required the equivalent of 8.7 miles of grout used on the 29,000 Guastavino ceiling tiles alone. All but 1,300 of these tiles are original to The Station.” 

This and the following image from Jason Keen/Michigan Central via Nice News.

What’s more, Michigan Central cites, “To honor The Station’s more recent history, international experts examined and curated graffiti on the building’s walls for preservation. Select sections of this art were saved.”

Ford Among its First Tenants. Michigan Central says that Ford “will move employees from its Ford Model e and Ford Integrated Services teams into newly renovated office space across three floors in The Station starting later this year. Ford will also have collaboration space in The Station for other Southeast Michigan-based employees to use. Some 1,000 Ford employees will work across the Michigan Central district by the end of the year, with a goal of 2,500 by 2028.”

An Historical Contrast. I recall a decidedly different bit of urban modification (I’m reluctant to call it renewal) described here at SimanaitisSays in “Art Deco, the Met, the Polish Brigade, Trump Tower, and Truth.” I suspect that Ford didn’t stiff any of the 3000 tradespeople involved in Michigan Central.

Jus’ suspectin’ with high confidence. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024