Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday unveiled its site plan for Michigan Central, the project to transform the area around the historic former train depot in the city’s Corktown neighborhood into a campus focused on the mobility and transportation methods that will define the future of the automotive industry.1
Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman, in 2018 first announced plans to restore Michigan Central Depot, which had been abandoned since 1988, into the centerpiece of an innovation hub that will eventually be home to some 5,000 employees.
One of project’s goals is to “provide an open platform for entrepreneurs, companies and start-ups to collaborate on mobility solutions,” James Courtney, who is leading community engagement on the project, said Tuesday. “These transportation solutions will help people navigate their city, and also their lives.”
The campus is already involved in collaborative work, including Ford’s role in a possible Detroit-to-Ann-Arbor self-driving corridor, the feasibility of which is being studied and the route for which would include the station.
....
- 1. At a virtual community meeting, the Dearborn automaker revealed its vision for the four-building, 30-acre campus, which it is in the midst of redeveloping via a $740 million project that aims to connect to the surrounding neighborhood. Ford described the planned campus as an “inclusive, vibrant and walkable innovation district.”
“Our vision is really about creating the future, and creating a hub for global innovation that will be anchored by 2,500 Ford employees and 2,500 others,” said Mary Culler, Ford’s development director for the project and president of the Ford Fund. “We want this to be a place where we can build new ways for people to have access to mobility, to lead better lives, and of course we want it to be a great destination for the community.”
