It will be like an old train station that should be in a black and white movie which suddenly springs to life with the sound of modernity. And this is what is happening in Detroit thanks to the Ford Motor Company.
Across the large Michigan Central Station still under construction, gardeners are preparing the environment with new grass. There are rows of trees being planted to give an impression that such a scene has always been like this. “Ford insisted in having something that appeared to have been put in place,” stated Drew Buell, the foreman. “So, it didn’t look like a new landscape — that’s why everything is kind of a bigger scale and planted close”.
This is not just some structure; it is a work of art and has historical value. What if the walls were of marble, the floors were adorned with patterns, and the columns were grand enough to make you feel like an ant? This old lonely train station abandoned and sad for many years is now becoming a tech hub by Ford. It will officially reopen this Thursday but there will be a celebration that will be open for everyone.
We were taken around by Josh Sirefman, the big boss at a Ford company known as Michigan Central. ‘This was where the men waited’ he took us around the house. And now it is being transformed into a location where technological enchantments occur. “This space here in the Grand Hall has to be one of the most glorious spaces literally anywhere in the country,” he said.
Specifically, the train station lacked passengers and was in a old and broken state since the beginning of the 1980s up to five years ago. Ford invested close to 1 billion dollars to fix it up, thinking that its aesthetic appeal and its location in close proximity to Detroit’s giant auto manufacturers would encourage technology based start-ups. Can you even consider investing so much money in polishing the gem that was once shining bright!
Right across the brand new train station lies another story worth telling. The old book depository building in Detroit, like many other buildings, was abandoned and left to become old and broken for a number of years but has now been renovated. It reopened last year and now has around 100 resident high technology ventures including ESSPI. Before becoming the CEO of ESSPI, Ron Butler served his community as a firefighter in Detroit and a teacher in a public school. His office is like a treasure trove full of cool gadgets and tools. He demonstrated a smart blanket which is made of glass fibers for electric vehicles in order to know whether the batteries are going to blow up or not.
Butler began, “There is no place like this.” “If there is anything that we need — electronics boards are built here and tested here. We sewed that specialty fire blanket downstairs.” This is essentially a playground for creators with access to all forms of cutting edge technology.
Such cooperation is especially important for companies creating tangible goods, also referred as hard-tech businesses. “That is pretty much all we have in terms of margins,” Butler said, “We are poor people for the most part creating things here, and this place enables that.”
But Ford isn’t just stopping with these buildings nor does it confine innovation to the auto manufacturing industry. It is believed that this Michigan Central will be a focal point that will spur the development of technology in Detroit. Many neighborhoods around the area are still struggling to recover from many years of hardship and there is hope that this new technology hub shall help revive the neighborhoods.
So next time you think of Detroit don’t do it with old cars and vintage music in mind.
