DETROIT — A 90-minute concert to be livestreamed globally and 10 days of open-house tours are on tap for the grand opening of the renovated Michigan Central Station, officials said in plans outlined for the Detroit City Council last week.
The concert will be held June 6 at 8:30 p.m. ET in Roosevelt Park in front of the station, Michigan Central CEO Josh Sirefman told the council. The Detroit Free Press reports the artist is set to be announced this Tuesday, May 7; advance registration will be required for the 15,000 attendees, with priority given to residents of nearby residents.
Following the opening concert, open-house tours of the building — to become the center of a technology campus — will run through June 16. The Michigan Chronicle reports the open house will welcome up to 60,000 visitors, with additional tours offered Fridays and Saturdays through Aug. 31 with preregistration.
Renovation of the 13-story building has been underway since Ford Motor Co. purchased the building in 2018 for $90 million; the company said it planned to spend $740 million on restoring the structure and surrounding area.
More information on the facility is available at the Michigan Central website, which will also include additional details on the upcoming events as they become available.
Recommend that we visit while we can. Not sure this effort will be long lasting.
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The negative Nancys come out. You were first this time. Well played. But of course Charles Landey had to weigh in with more negativity.
Do any of you have anything good to say about anything?
So, Michael, it’s negative for me to say Ford made a horrible investment (supported of course, by all sorts of corporate welfare from the taxpayers). I guess you think the truth is negative.
It’s also true that the Michigan Central Railroad (New York Central System) never needed the office tower of that size.
I’ll be positive. The rebuilt Michigan Central campus is a wonderful thing for the neighborhood (Corktown and nearby Mexican Town), but not for Ford stockholders. I’ll also be positive and state that Detroit is a great city. Within Detroit, Corktown and Mexican Town are among the most promising neighborhoods, along with such other great neighborhoods such as North Rosedale or Six Mile/ Woodward or Seven Mile/ Livernois.
Detroit beats anything in California’s, Oregon’s and Washington State’s bigger cities, hands down. How’s that for positive? I’ve seen a lot of this nation. The up-and-coming city in this nation is Detroit, Michigan. It’s among the best-governed major cities in America.
“with priority given to residents of nearby residents.” Just a small typo there.
You can love this building, you can celebrate its resurrection, you can jump for joy at the railroad heritage being saved, you can call it a triumph of architectural renewal, and all that stuff. What you can’t do is explain what’s in it for FoMoCo, what the Ford family gets for the investment. For all this money, Ford ends up in three places, the Glass House headquarters on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, this new Michigan Central technology campus on Michigan Avenue in Detroit, and the traditional engineering/ prototype campus in Dearborn/ Allen Park.
If Ford can’t design a reliable car in Dearborn/ Allen Park, it won’t have any better luck at Michigan Central in Detroit.
I’m no fan of the management of GM (“Government Motors”), but even GM is wise enough to reduce its real estate portfolio by walking away from the RenCen on the Detroit riverfront.
Consider this irony: Detroit ends up saving Michigan Central, a too-big, poorly located obsolete megastructure that the New York Central Railroad should have built much smaller, while at the same time the city has no idea what to do with the much newer, better located RenCen megastructure.
Stay positive Charles. You can’t criticize all the public dollars being invested in CalHSR and then turn around and criticize the private dollars going to Michigan Central.
As for “what is in it for FoMoCo?”
I am sure the project and the facility were all set up under an educational non for profit by Ford so they (and other contributors) could maximize their tax writeoffs.
JOHN — I’m sure if you look hard enough you’ll see that NOTHING gets built in Detroit without substantial public financing, not even a McDonald’s let alone a billion dollar project.
Michigan Central is the THIRD example of megastructure “edifice complex” in Detroit. The first was Michigan Central’s (New Yok Central System) 1910-1913 train station in Detroit with an office tower that the railroad didn’t need.
The second was the RenCen, built under the leadership of Hank The Duece (Henry Ford II) in the 1970’s. An embarrassing 1970’s architectural bomb, later picked up by GM for its HQ, and now GM is walking away. If anyway rents or buys RenCen space, it will be at a fire sale price.
The third and most recent example of “edifice complex” is FoMoCo rehabilitating Michigan Central at colossal expense, an obsolete train station and office tower, duplicating much newer tech space that Ford is tearing down in Dearborn and Allen Park.
Look where GM is “walking away” too. Hudsons Tower, where they will lease the two top floors and the street level will be a showroom. A development by Rock Ventures founded by Mr. Dominos, Dan Gilbert. More private capital flowing into Detroit. More Class A office space with adjoining hotels. GM’s lease in RenCen had shrunk considerably over the years. Their exit is not as big of a deal as one thinks.
Michigan Central appears to be focused differently. Old building, old neighborhood. Tech centric education. And yes, the City of Detroit probably had to fix the sewers and water system and repave some streets. But now it makes the adjoining properties more desirable for residential and urban living.
If you think the MC is bad private investment, that is your opinion, but if you think its bad public policy, I think you are posting in the wrong website.
Regarding your last paragraph, John. Good public policy for Detroit, terrible investment for Ford.
How many cars does Ford need to sell to build out work space for one engineer or one techie in the new bilding.
No question Detroit is an up-and-coming city. But as I started early this morning, What’s in it for Ford?