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Ford’s Corktown presence: An emerging mobility corridor

Michigan Central Station in Corktown, Detroit

What’s happening in Corktown?

Restoring Michigan Central Station is only the beginning of what ​Ford Motor Company​ has in store for Corktown, a historic district and popular neighborhood off of downtown Detroit.

Ford has chosen Corktown as its mobility innovation destination and has already moved its autonomous and electric vehicle teams there. For the neighborhood, Ford aims to integrate small business, art, and mixed-use community spaces.

Everything Coming to Corktown

If you’re wondering what’s on the horizon for Corktown, here’s a list of everything Ford has in the works coming in the next two to three years.

● Michigan Central Station: ​To serve as the centerpiece for Ford’s Corktown Campus. Once renovations are complete, a mix of community, work, and retail spaces will live here.

● Book Depository: ​Located next to Michigan Central Station, the Book Depository will have retail spaces and offices — and housing, possibly.

● Innovation hub: ​Michigan Central Station, combined with the nearby properties Ford has acquired, will create a 1.2 million-square-foot mobility innovation hub where Ford and partner companies can develop, test, and deploy new mobility concepts.

● Mobility corridor​: Ford’s developments on both its Corktown and Dearborn campuses are meant to create a mobility corridor where transportation innovations of the future will develop.

● Community spaces: ​Ford aims to create more spaces for community, art, small businesses, and entrepreneurship in the neighborhood.

Mobility District in the Works

The Michigan Central Station Development and innovation hub in Corktown represent Ford’s vision for the future of mobility for both Detroit and Southeast Michigan.

Even though the project had to shut down for seven or eight weeks due to COVID-19, this won’t cause a significant impact, other than to the schedule. However, Ford had to delay the Book Depository’s completion by six months. The good news is that construction has since resumed on-site.

Once the Corktown innovation district is completed, Ford plans on bringing in partner companies in mobility into the space to develop and test mobility technology. Ford estimates 5,000 new jobs from the district, and half will come from its business partners.

Written by Let’s Detroit’s Melanie Barnett