Hour Detroit, 10/12/22 (dated post)
The Grand Reopening of Michigan Central Station
The long-awaited opening of the reimagined Michigan Central Station and The Book Depository is upon us.
The neglected area surrounding Michigan Central Station is starting to take shape as a new global innovation hub. // Rendering courtesy of Michigan Central, LLC.
In the mid-1930s, when the Albert Kahn-designed U.S. Parcel Post Office opened next to the august, celebrated Michigan Central Station, there was precious little public fanfare. It was, essentially, a really big warehouse, and at the time it was so common for Kahn’s firm to have a hand in new Detroit-area structures that only a few of their openings were cause for much excitement.
Although the Detroit Free Press wrote in 1934 about the expected start of construction and then-Rep. John Dingell Sr.’s work securing the $1.9 million to pay for it, the paper offered no coverage of its 1936 completion.
That won’t be the case in coming months when that building reopens. It is the first major payoff of Ford Motor Company’s ambitious $950 million investment into the transformation of the long-decaying area. The entire project is branded Michigan Central; it is a gleaming new hub of innovation focused on mobility technology.
The showstopper of that massive effort is, of course, the renewal of the Michigan Central train station as a space for offices, shopping, and public gatherings, which is due to be opened to the public by the end of 2023.
Continue here.