Rebirth of Detroit's Michigan Central train station serves as symbol of city's comeback

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: A restoration of past glory, a renovation toward future growth, potential consequences and conflicts in the present, that is the story of Michigan Central, a grand old and now new addition to Detroit’s economic and cultural life.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown reports for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Richard Hess, Principal Architect, Quinn Evans: We spent a lot of time researching and understanding the different types of materials.

Jeffrey Brown: Above, soaring ceilings, all around, columns, ornate chandeliers, arched windows, this is the Grand Hall of Detroit’s Michigan Central, an historic train station newly restored to glory.

Lead architect Richard Hess is with the firm Quinn Evans.

Richard Hess: This is the original Tennessee rose-colored marble flooring.

Jeffrey Brown: Much of it reconstructed as it was, though not the old wooden benches on which several thousand travelers once waited every day.

Richard Hess: All these benches were gone, but we wanted to keep the reflection of what was here before and sort of that token of memory.

Jeffrey Brown: Like the ghost of a bench.

Richard Hess: Yes, it’s like the ghost of a bench. That’s a great way to put it.

Jeffrey Brown: The ghosts, both friendly and destructive, are everywhere, flitting through hallways and history. The original 1913 building, located in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood and designed by the same team behind New York’s Grand Central, was the gateway to the city, a symbol of its industrial power, then the fourth tallest building in Detroit, the tallest train station in the world.

But as Detroit’s fortunes changed, Michigan Central became a different symbol, of decline. After the last train left in 1988, the station sat abandoned and came close to being torn down, a scene of decay, broken glass and walls, a derelict graffiti heaven, water damaged throughout, as Hess saw in his first visit here in 2011.

Richard Hess: And the entire basement area was flooded with water, millions of gallons of water. It’s pitch black. There’s no windows. There’s no lighting, really spooky calm.

And you raised up the flashlights and right on the column in front of us, it was spray-painted, “This is where you die.”

(Laughter)

Richard Hess: Chills immediately went up my spine. I said, like, that’s it. I’m out of here. I want to go.

(Laughter)

Richard Hess: But that was my first impression of the train station.

Jeffrey Brown: In 2018, Ford Motor Company bought the building with an eye toward a major contribution to Detroit’s revitalization. And restoration began for real, testing its structural integrity, studying archives to match materials or replace lost items, a vast project, including engineers, designers, historians, hundreds of construction workers and craftsmen.

Several examples of what was were left on view, a graffitied hallway, columns pitted by water.

You wanted us to see the damage?

Richard Hess: We’re telling the story of Michigan Central Station not just the way it was 100 years ago, but also what happened to Michigan Central when — during its time that it was abandoned was really important.

Jeffrey Brown: But this is more than just a nod to the past. The station will house offices. Ford has already moved into several floors, and, eventually, retail, art spaces, a hotel and plenty more.

And, crucially, Ford also bought and restored another landmark building next door, one designed by famed architect Albert Kahn and opened in 1936, first as a post office, then book depository for Detroit’s public schools. It was abandoned in 1987 after a fire left it a shell.

Now it’s been remade into Newlab, a home for innovators and tech start-ups.

Mary Culler is president of Ford Philanthropy and headed the Michigan Central and Newlab project.

Mary Culler, President, Ford Philanthropy: And so the vision has always been about creating an innovation tech and cultural hub that not only talks and thinks about sort of what are the jobs of the future, but how do you bring people together to really solve the biggest problems?

And those cannot be solved alone. So, bringing together, think about it, corporations, start-ups, nonprofits, artists, all kinds of people that are all under kind of the same roof, thinking about what those problems are and thinking about how to solve them for the future, it’s really a dynamic and energetic place.

Darren Riley, Co-Founder and CEO, JustAir: I know the Google guys. They are good friends of mine, so I go up there sometimes.

Jeffrey Brown: Thirty-two-year-old Darren Riley, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, is one of Newlab’s young core of entrepreneurs, as co-founder and CEO of JustAir, a company that provides data on air quality for use by government agencies, public health services, and individuals in the community suffering, as he does, from asthma and related problems.

It’s a business with a social impact goal.

Darren Riley: I have dedicated myself after college that I’m only going to focus on problems that actually move the needle or the people that I love.

I think a lot of times, when we talk about technology, we don’t think of how to make sure it’s inclusive, not only inclusive, but actually solving the problems that hit home for those marginalized communities.

Jeffrey Brown: He’s also a founding member of Black Tech Saturdays, where people come together to share knowledge of technology and how to start and grow companies.

Darren Riley: We seem to make a real impact. We have a community through the ups and downs, through the ups to celebrate you, cheer you on, keep going, and the downs to celebrate you and say, hey, keep going.

Jeffrey Brown: Inevitably, this is a story of ups and downs amid change, as Michigan Central’s revitalization now brings more change to the surrounding neighborhoods, including historic Mexicantown, named after the influx of immigrants who settled here beginning in the 1920s to be part of Detroit’s industrial growth.

Tomasita Alfaro-Koehler, known to all as Tammy, has had a front row seat from the time she first worked in her grandparents’ store, honey bee market.

Tomasita Alfaro-Koehler, Co-Owner, Honey Bee Market: Michigan Central is my front yard.

Jeffrey Brown: Yes.

(Crosstalk)

Jeffrey Brown: It’s quite an imposing building for a front yard.

Tomasita Alfaro-Koehler: Yes, it is. People would say, oh, that just needs to be torn down. And I know it felt hopeless, but, in my heart, in my husband’s heart, we felt like this area could come back.

Jeffrey Brown: Tammy and husband Ken Koehler bought Honey Bee in 1996, and it continues as a thriving and much-loved local market. Today, she says, the streets are safer, and across the street is a new apartment building.

At the same time, though, some older customers in surrounding business are being priced out. The challenge, she says, finding a balance.

Tomasita Alfaro-Koehler: It’s because you can’t just come in and say, oh, it’s going to change the whole look of the city without considering the old, because we have history. And we’re thankful for the investment. We are all thankful for the investment of the new that came in.

But, at the same time, you have to appreciate the old that sustained the city and kept holding on to the hope that it could be better.

Jeffrey Brown: While all this plays out, Michigan Central is now a prime example of a growing and, says architect Richard Hess, welcome trend in urban design.

Richard Hess: Today, for the first time ever, there is more work in the architectural community on existing buildings, on adapting existing buildings than new construction.

Jeffrey Brown: Really?

Richard Hess: It’s been a huge swing over time, but there are so many benefits.

Jeffrey Brown: Those include sustainable building practices, as well as ties to community history. And, speaking of history, there is a hope to bring back train service to Michigan Central one day as well.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Jeffrey Brown in Detroit.