Blue Light District? Ford Buys Michigan Central Station, Will Announce Plan on June 19th

by Steph Willems

Published: June 11th, 2018

blue light district ford buys michigan central station will announce plan on june

The long-abandoned — and recently reglazed — Michigan Central Station building will host a Ford sign and many Ford employees in the near future, the building’s longtime former owner claims.

Matthew Moroun, son of Detroit businessman Manuel “Matty” Moroun, told Crain’s Detroit Business on Monday that the family has sold the hulking, derelict building to Ford Motor Company as part of the automaker’s wide-ranging plan to take over much of the Corktown district.

“The deal is complete,” Moroun told Crain’s ahead of this morning’s announcement. “The future of the depot is assured. The next steward of the building is the right one for its future. The depot will become a shiny symbol for Detroit’s progress and its success.”

To some, this might sound a lot like the Ford-spurred fanfare that preceded the opening of the Renaissance Center back in the 1970s.

Moroun added that the Ford logo would adorn the 18-storey building, which opened in 1914 and closed its doors to travellers in 1988. Apparently, the Moroun family wants to focus its efforts on getting a new international bridge built. The transaction price remains a mystery, though Moroun did say the family and Ford entered into talks last October.

A schoolbook depository building adjacent to the depot also changed hands in this deal.

It was expected that Ford would make an announcement in early May, but that date came and went with no word on the building’s future. Now, Crain’s reports the Dearborn-based automaker will lay out its plans for the building — and surrounding area — on June 19th.

In recent months, reports arose that Ford was amassing a massive land claim in the area, just west of downtown, in the hopes of building a campus for its electric and self-driving vehicle efforts. The total floor area could cover 1.1 million square feet. Already, the automaker’s “Team Edison” has set up shop in a converted factory on Michigan Avenue, a stone’s throw away from the train station.

While the plan’s scope isn’t yet clear, getting the train depot and adjacent buildings ready for an influx of who-knows-how-many employees will take time and money. The Morouns sunk several million dollars into sealing up the station’s exterior and stripping it of asbestos, but the building remains a work in progress (and a must-visit attraction in America’s ruin porn mecca). The city will surely dangle tax breaks to lure the automaker back into its boundaries.

[Image: Wikimedia ( CC BY-SA 3.0)

#Corktown #CorporateCampus #Detroit #Ford #FordMotorCompany #History #MichiganCentralStation

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EBFlex on Jun 11, 2018

This ranks right up there with dumbest business moves ever.....Right behind hiring airplane guy and furniture guy.

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Zipster on Jun 11, 2018

Deadwood: I hope that it's just on this site that you manifest your cynicism. I get to Detroit about once a year and you probably get there more frequently (a member of the Detroit Institute of Art?) but I do see progress each time I go. I am impressed by the number of people I see in the downtown core on a Sunday morning. There are ever evolving pockets of progress in many areas of the city. If Detroit can keep attracting private capital, there is hope that it will find its equilibrium. albeit at a level much below what it was 60 years ago.

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- JohnTaurus on Jun 11, 2018
  
  Its simply the wrong company doing this, that's his only complaint. And, he needs something to b¡tch about to make himself feel important.
  
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- DeadWeight on Jun 11, 2018
  
  I'm there at least 2x a week assuming I'm not out west on biz. I know the inside scoop of the inside players, politics, and who is watching whom. Right now, private equity is hyping their developments like crazy so that they can flip them at a profit before the next hard downturn (some of these deals are so bad that they will NEVER turn a profit, and will be worked out between dumb money buyers and dumb money lenders at as much as a 80% discount in the aftermath - and they still may not have a chance at being profitable post-writedown; I've taken hard hat tours of these deals and looked at their shiny, full of sh!t, unicorn and rainbow assuming proformas).
  
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- DeadWeight on Jun 11, 2018
  
  @JohnTaurus You are phukking clueless and out of your element. GM's silver silos are pigs (that they bought from Ford by the way) that are a boondoggle of an investment (not to mention architectural, floorplan and energy consuming pigs) that GM has had to pour more money into than if they just built brand new buildings (which they would have been far better off doing). Have you ever stepped foot in any of the office buildings comprising the Renaissance Center, John?
  
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Recent Comments

El scotto UH, more parking and a building that was designed for CAT 5 cable at the new place?
Ajla Maybe drag radials? 🤔
FreedMike Apparently this car, which doesn't comply to U.S. regs, is in Nogales, Mexico. What could possibly go wrong with this transaction?
El scotto Under NAFTA II or the USMCA basically the US and Canada do all the designing, planning, and high tech work and high skilled work. Mexico does all the medium-skilled work.Your favorite vehicle that has an Assembled in Mexico label may actually cross the border several times. High tech stuff is installed in the US, medium tech stuff gets done in Mexico, then the vehicle goes back across the border for more high tech stuff the back to Mexico for some nuts n bolts stuff.All of the vehicle manufacturers pass parts and vehicles between factories and countries. It's thought out, it's planned, it's coordinated and they all do it.Northern Mexico consists of a few big towns controlled by a few families. Those families already have deals with Texan and American companies that can truck their products back and forth over the border. The Chinese are the last to show up at the party. They're getting the worst land, the worst factories, and the worst employees. All the good stuff and people have been taken care of in the above paragraph.Lastly, the Chinese will have to make their parts in Mexico or the US or Canada. If not, they have to pay tariffs. High tariffs. It's all for one and one for all under the USMCA.Now evil El Scotto is thinking of the fusion of Chinese and Mexican cuisine and some darn good beer.
FreedMike I care SO deeply!