USA TODAY International Edition
Bill Ford explains effort to revitalize Detroit
Restoring train station just a part of his vision
DETROIT – Day after day, Bill Ford drove his Mustang GT along Michigan Avenue between Dearborn and Detroit, past the graffiti-covered train station that had become the symbol of this city’s decay.
And he started to wonder about his legacy, his family’s legacy and the future of Ford Motor.
“I kept staring at the train station thinking, ‘What if? Wouldn’t that be amazing?’ ” he said. “If all we did was to restore this fabulous building and make it sparkle, that would be great.”
The purchase of the Michigan Central Station brings to life Ford’s vision, designed to navigate a changing future rather than falling victim to it.
Bill Ford, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, sat in the depot’s cavernous, long-neglected lobby for an interview last week two days after the company’s purchase was announced.
“Throughout most of my adulthood,
when I would travel anywhere outside of Michigan, people would ask where I was from, and I would say ‘Detroit.’ Often people said, ‘Gee, I’m sorry.’ Or ‘Why? Why would you live there?’ I was always very proud of this area. And I love Detroit.”
Soon, he said, the rehabilitated train station will be the hub for 2,500 Ford jobs. No one could have predicted a dramatic pivot that would include the return of the automaker from the suburb of Dearborn to the heart of Detroit with the purchase of multiple parcels in the city’s oldest surviving neighborhood, Corktown.
“I’ve always thought about what Ford could and should be like years from now,” the executive chairman said, “as I was thinking about us inventing the new, modern era.”
❚ The forefront of change: During his drives, Ford thought about the future of cars.
“It struck me, years ago, even back in the depths of the recession, that our world was going to change. Nobody in Detroit was thinking about what that might look like. So I wanted to be at the forefront of that change,” he said.
Almost a decade ago, Bill Ford created a low-profile company that has invested millions in projects that would help transform the business.
“I started a venture capital firm here in Detroit called Fontinalis Partners in 2009. It was to invest in the future of mobility when nobody was thinking about the future of mobility,” he said. ”
❚ Inside the train station: Ford envisions a former train station that has coffee shops, restaurants and shopping on the first floor and office space on the floors above.
“I would love to see startups, young entrepreneurs in here,” Ford said. The timing is uncertain. “We’re saying four years from now,” Ford said. “This beautiful space will be completely restored and be open to the public. We don’t want to just be this corporate entity coming downtown.”
“I was always very proud of this area. And I love Detroit.” BILL FORD