Ford Motor Company announced that they have acquired the Michigan Central Station in Detroit’s historic Corktown neighborhood and will renovate the existing structure, along with other nearby properties, to serve as the company’s central location for innovation and the development of future technology.
The acquisition of the Michigan Central Station coincides with Ford’s accumulation of other nearby properties, including the former Detroit Public Schools Book Depository, the site of an old brass factory, a refurbished former factory and two acres of vacant land.
The Dearborn, Michigan automobile manufacturer plans to develop a new 1.2 million square-foot campus on the new properties that’s devoted to solely to future development. The factory has already been in use by Ford, as the company has been developing electric and autonomous vehicles at the space.
Ford estimates that about 2,500 employees will be located at the Corktown campus, with space for about 2,500 partner employees to work with Ford on collaborative projects.
The company also plans to open up the campus, particularly the former train station, to the public as a mixed-use building that features space for office, retail and residential uses.
Ford teased its upcoming battery-electric SUV earlier this year in a video that takes place in the Corktown neighborhood, shadowing Ford’s future involvement in the historic Detroit neighborhood.
Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said the spaces symbolizes the fall and resurrection of Detroit, and is full of potential for not just Ford, but the transportation industry.
“Michigan Central Station is a powerful symbol of Detroit’s struggles and now its resurgence, but Ford’s investment in Corktown is far from symbolic,” Ford said in a statement. “We aren’t just making a bet on Detroit. We are making a big bet on the future for Ford and the future of transportation. It’s exciting to imagine what’s possible as we build tomorrow, together.”