Published

Ford in Talks to Buy Idle Train Station in Detroit

Ford Motor Co. is in talks to acquire Detroit’s long-vacant Michigan Central Depot, a former railroad station located less than two miles west of the city center, according to multiple media reports.
#workforcedevelopment

Share

Ford Motor Co. is in talks to acquire Detroit’s long-vacant Michigan Central Depot, a former railroad station located less than two miles west of the city center, according to multiple media reports.

The 18-story, 504,600 sq-ft building occupies nearly five acres of land on the edge of Detroit’s thriving Corktown district. The decaying building, the subject of several failed refurbishing schemes, has frequently been depicted as a stark symbol of the city’s decline.
 

Reports say Ford, which also is interested in acquiring land around the 104-year-old building, envisions the area as a campus for its expanding and urban-focused mobility services, data analytics and self-driving-vehicle operations.

In December, Ford announced that in May it will relocate its electrification and autonomous vehicle teams to a refurbished building a few blocks from the depot.

Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has repeatedly voiced his interest in expanding Ford’s presence in the Corktown area, so named for its history as a former Irish enclave. Company founder Henry Ford’s father was born in County Cork, Ireland.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Shifting Landscape of Technology Is a Never-Ending Education

    Brent Donaldson, Senior Editor, Modern Machine Shop and Additive Manufacturing Magazine discusses how the shifting landscape of technology that all of Gardner’s writers and editors cover is a never-ending education. If we are truly doing our jobs, we will never feel like we’ve mastered them. As I continue writing and reporting for AM and MMS, it’s easy to imagine how these technologies’ interdependency will continue to grow. It also seems clear that this kind of reporting — the kind that requires editors to experience and share new manufacturing technologies and strategies — is the kind of reporting that only Gardner can produce with any depth. I’m grateful to be part of it.

  • Creating the C-HR

    Yes, this is a Toyota. A production crossover. One that will clearly appeal to those who are wondering where Scion has gone.

  • Report: Ford Targets Europe in Plan to Cut 24,000 Jobs Worldwide

    Ford Motor Co. is pondering a plan that would shrink its 202,000-member global workforce by 12%, mostly through reductions in Europe, according to the U.K.’s Sunday Times.

Gardner Business Media - Strategic Business Solutions