May 01, 2024
Photo credit: David Guralnick, The Detroit News
The Detroit News
April 30, 2024
Sarah Rahal
As restoration of Michigan Central nears the finish line, plans are moving forward for the former train station’s grand opening in early June, which will include a concert for 15,000 people and several days of free public tours.
Michigan Central’s team on Tuesday asked the Detroit City Council for permits to host the grand opening. Events will run from June 6-16 with performances, station tours, discussions and family-friendly activities, said Chief Executive Officer Joshua Sirefman.
“Our celebration is going to have two core pieces, a free concert we call ‘Open Live’ on June 6 to celebrate all the station has meant for the city and what it will mean going forward,” said Sirefman. “We anticipate an audience of 15,000 for this. This will be free and we will make sure the residents in the immediate neighborhood have priority access to tickets.”
The station’s public opening comes 36 years after the last train left the station on Michigan Avenue in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. Ford Motor Co. purchased the building and its surrounding campus in 2018 and has spent hundreds of millions of dollars restoring the area and station.
Sirefman said Michigan Central expects 60,000 people to tour the station over 10 days in June.
“The goal of that experience will be to celebrate the restoration and revitalization of the building,” he said.
The station will open to media first on June 6 and an event to thank those who supported the Michigan Central Children’s Endowment, led by Bill and Lisa Ford, begins at 5 p.m.
There will be a 90-minute outdoor free concert at 8:30 p.m. Gates for the concert will open at 6 p.m. The event will also be streamed globally, though performers haven’t been announced. Pre-registration will be required for all events.
Then on June 7, there will be VIP and general entry tours, an open forum with leadership of the tower and Newlab at Michigan Central. There also will be food service, performances, displays and activities expected.
The station will host free ticketed tours from noon-10 p.m. June 7; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. June 8; and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. June 9. The open house and festival continues noon-8 p.m. June 10-13; from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. June 14-15; and from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. June 16.
The weekends will have programming with multiple performances per day, demonstrations and music. Weekdays will have a light programming approach with a few spikes of interest each day, according to the permit request.
Open houses will continue June 21 through Aug. 31 from 5-9 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
An “OPEN” sculpture will guide visitors to the entry point of the open houses alongside empty frames people can pose with the train station in the background. Food trucks will line the streets to serve a variety of options from around the surrounding communities.
There also will be a shuttle service and more parking for festivities, Sirefman said.
In 2018, Ford acquired the station and several nearby buildings for $90 million from the Moroun family, the billionaire owners of the Ambassador Bridge. With the state approving tax breaks at the time estimated at $207 million, there was the promise of a revitalization of the shuttered icon.
That year, 40,000 visitors waited to see the vacant 1913-built rail stop before extensive renovations began.
The 30-acre Corktown mobility innovation hub anchored by the station eventually anticipates one day being home to 5,000 tax-paying jobs, as Ford promised in 2018. Half are expected to come from the Dearborn automaker’s advanced technology teams and the rest from startups and suppliers. Fulfilling the vision, though, is likely to take years, according to the project’s leaders, who promise more details will be shared in June.
Ford has estimated the price tag to restore the entire Corktown campus at $950 million, but it wouldn’t say how much has been spent restoring the 500,000-square-foot train station. Over the last six years, 3,100 workers put in more than 1.7 million hours into its construction.
Although restoration will be complete in time for the open house in June, the station won’t immediately be the buzzing center of shops, restaurants, Ford employees at work and overnight visitors.
“We will start after that, the long process of activating the building over time,” Sirefman said.
Still, Ford is expected to occupy several floors in the station’s tower, according to two sources familiar with the situation. There are plans for a still-to-be-named hotel to occupy the top three stories. Other businesses will have some tie into advanced tech, electrification or mobility.
Restaurants and shops on the ground floor are being curated by Roslyn Karamoko, founder of Detroit Is The New Black apparel brand. Art installations will pay homage to the station’s history, and there’ll be space for public gatherings and live music performances on its campus. There’s also potential for the return of passenger rail service nearby.
District 6 Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero said the NFL Draft was not as successful near Corktown and Southwest Detroit as previously expected and asked how the station would make more efforts to boost nearby businesses outside their campus.
“We want Michigan Central to feel a part of the neighborhood,” Sirefman responded. “We’re going to have a partnership with all the local businesses. … We are going to have limited availability for food and beverages on site but we want to make sure local businesses are highlighted. We are still working on shuttle services for the event but I think that could create opportunities and ensure people are in the neighborhoods.”
The petition for the grand opening permits was sent to the council’s Neighborhood and Community Services Standing Committee for a vote before returning to formal session next week.
