Ford to revamp Detroit book warehouse into innovation hub
DETROIT » Ford Motor Co. revealed plans Tuesday to transform a long-vacant book warehouse into a hub for automobile innovation in Detroit’s oldest neighborhood.
Corktown, long known for its wood-framed houses, restaurants and taverns, is the site of the automaker’s planned $740 million project to create a place where new transportation and mobility ideas are nurtured and developed.
The Dearborn, Michiganbased company’s foray into Corktown started with its 2018 acquisition of the massive Michigan Central train station and other buildings in the neighborhood just west of downtown.
When work is completed, the 30-acre site will have more than 1 million square feet of commercial space.
“This is a really, authentically beautiful neighborhood. It’s really important that we maintain its integrity,” said Mary Culler, Ford’s Detroit development director and president of the Ford Foundation.
For decades, Corktown stood in the long shadow of the hulking 17-story train station. After being vacated in 1988, the building epitomized Detroit’s blight and economic despair amid the city’s steadily shrinking manufacturing base and exodus of people.