DETROIT – The project aimed at restoring Detroit’s historic train station and developing the area around it into a hub called Michigan Central has reached a milestone with the Tuesday opening of the Book Depository building.
The abandoned Book Depository building has been restored under Bill Ford’s plan to redevelop part of Corktown to serve as a mobility innovation hub focused on electric vehicles and mobility solutions. Opening Tuesday, April 25, the renovated Book Depository building is the first major Michigan Central building to open since the project’s announcement five years ago.
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The former depository, located on 15th Street at Marantette Street, will be used as the headquarters for Newlab Detroit -- where entrepreneurs, engineers, industry experts, and members of the government will work together to “apply innovation to pressing challenges in energy, mobility and materials,” their website reads.
Newlab Detroit, which is similar to the Newlab Brooklyn project in New York, will reportedly focus on advancing “mobility solutions” in the Motor City with a special focus on electrification and sustainability.
Newlab is only part of the plans for Michigan Central. Ford Motor Company purchased the Michigan Central train station and surrounding property in 2018, and plans to use it as a hub for “cutting-edge startups,” industry experts and more. The Book Depository building where Newlab will reside rests just beside the Michigan Central train station.
The train station itself is expected to begin to reopening to the public in phases sometime this year. The historic station, which has been vacant for decades, will feature a mixed-use space comprised of commercial spaces, event spaces, restaurants, and modern offices for Ford.
Other developments on the Michigan Central campus include the newly-built Bagley Mobility Hub located on the corner of Bagley and 14th streets, the “factory,” and the “platform” where new technology can be tested and showcased.
You can learn more about the Michigan Central development projects here.
Ford says the new 30-acre “walkable innovation hub” in Corktown is “part of its plan to reshape the future of global mobility, working with key partners and suppliers and connecting to a broader network of city and regional assets and testing.” Michigan Central will reportedly include 1.2 million square feet of commercial public space, in addition to several community and youth projects meant to benefit the community.
A $6 million transformation of Roosevelt Park, which is situated in front of the old train station, is expected to be finished this year after breaking ground last fall. The campus will also feature a first-of-its-kind road system that charges electric vehicles as they drive on it.
Click here to visit the Michigan Central website for more information.