Last week we talked about Ford’s Michigan Central Station project and that Ford workers had discovered that a pair of red-tailed hawks were nesting on a window ledge on the 12th story of the building. Ford said that workers had put a covering over the window and blocked off the area to keep the raptors from being disturbed. Ford also mentioned that it had pumped about 227,000 gallons of water out of the facility.
Ford has offered up some more details about the Michigan Central Station project noting that it is about 3% completed and is entering into Phase II of a three-phase project. According to construction manager Richard Bardelli, Phase I of the project kicked off in December and included winterizing and drying out the 106-year-old facility that had been unused since 1988 when Amtrack abandoned it.
The 227,000 gallons of water that were removed from the facility come from its basement and little-known subbasement. Once that water was removed, the construction crews put on temporary roofing and sealed floors to keep rainwater out and prevent additional flooding. The updated master plan for Michigan Central Station will be unveiled next month.
That will be a year after Ford officially purchased the facility. Word surfaced last week that Ford was considering putting a hotel or a conference center in the top two floors, rather than apartments as initially planned. Reports indicate that most of the trash and debris is now gone from the facility, Ford had stated previously that it had pulled 3,000 carts of debris out of the facility. Bardelli says that 36,000 cubic yards of debris have been taken out of the building, one yard at a time. The facility is on pace to open in 2022.
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Source: Detroit Free Press
Comments
Thank you Ford, for buying and restoring this wonderful Detroit monument. I had the privilege of leaving out of there on Amtrak, in 1986 or 87. I often wonder how many years Matty would have hung onto it to do nothing! It would be great to have the upper 2 floors as a hotel, instead of a no access apartment area. At least people could rent a room for the view. Perhaps down the road Amtrak could return. So much potential in over s million square feet. Thanks again. Ford!