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A group of state legislators is urging that stunning Michigan Central train station be left standing, instead of being dynamited as the Detroit city council ordered last month.
The historic depot, an encore project from the team of architects who created Grand Central Station in NYC nearly a century ago, remains structurally sound but is in rough shape in all other respects after two decades of vandalism and neglect.
“With more than 500,000 square feet of space on nearly 14 acres in proximity to critical state, regional and international infrastructure facilities, the Central Depot property has great potential to house a complimentary set of homeland security, intermodal transportation and economic development-related functions,” write the five state senators. “The property is ideally located in an area of unique intermodal convergence that includes the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, connections to three interstate highways, the Detroit-Wayne County Port and several freight lines.” (More pics after the jump.)
The Detroit city council–which seems to have no clue on how to protect the remaining gems in that afflicted place–has yet to respond to the proposal.
The timing of the senators’ plea, though, is interesting. Just last week, the Michigan Messenger reported that the Canadian Pacific Railroad is seeking $400 million to build a new freight rail tunnel under the Detroit River and likely emerging in the middle of Michigan Central’s rail yard. While building the tunnel would not necessarily save the structure, the proposal does seem to buttress the case made by preservationists that the complex still has economic value and is worth rehabilitating.
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Photos: Flickr Motionblur, GS George, Smooveb, Radiospike, islandphotobug
Tags: THE RAIL WORLD
It would be a tragedy to demolish this fantastic architectural landmark, one of the greatest in the Great Lakes. Shame on Michigan for even considering it. A longer-term vision is clearly needed.
[...] New Hope For Detroit’s Iconic, Endangered Train Station … By The Infrastructurist “The property is ideally located in an area of unique intermodal convergence that includes the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, connections to three interstate highways, the Detroit-Wayne County Port and several freight … INFRASTRUCTURIST – http://www.infrastructurist.com/ [...]
[...] Greater City: Providence on the tension between property rights and progressive planning; and The Infrastructurist on the effort to save Detroit’s magnificent — and decrepit — Michigan Central train [...]
I really would like to make it to Detroit to see that thing in person before they get rid of it. I’ve always been fascinated by that, and other urban ruins. I went to a concert across the street from the abandoned Domino sugar factory in Brooklyn a couple of months ago was more interested in walking around to see if I could slip into the complex than in watching music. I couldn’t, sadly, but it was still cool standing in front of it.
As someone from Ohio, “I don’t give a damn for the whole state of Michigan,” but I would really like to see them save that train station.
Is this 1959 or 2009? Haven’t we realized by now that performing “urban renewal” with the blunt tool of dynamite is a colossal mistake?
The lack of vision of Detroit’s City Council is astounding. We have the most rail friendly US administration in decades, We finally have an administration that understands the importance of rail to our nation’s well being, with billions planned to be spent on it. Meanwhile, the auto industry is going through epic convulsions, and Detroit will need to reinvent itself. Destroying the surviving reminders of its glorious past is no path to salvation. What remains should be restored and celebrated, or, at the very least, left in benign neglect until a time others can afford to do so.
New York City is still mourning the loss of its historic Pennsylvania Station, decades after it was torn down. Seattle is rehabilitating its historic train station, in bits and pieces as funding becomes available. Many other cities have done the same.
Detroit should pitch a plan to rehab this facility with Federal assistance, to create desperately needed local jobs, and a point of pride in a city that has already lost so much over the years.
I haven’t set foot in downtown Detroit for some time, but the notion that the real estate occupied by this building is so valuable that the building must be destroyed to build something new is totally ludicrous. Countless lots and areas around the city are empty or dramatically underutilized.
When I see pictures of what Detroit used to look like before I was born, it makes me sad. Even in its ruined state, the continued existence of this beautiful building and the civic investment its construction represented give me hope.
I can’t say that I exactly live in the shadow of the station, but my house looks out onto both the colorfully lit Motor City Casino and the bombed out vestige of the train station. Perhaps a bit of background on the two buildings would be helpful.
The Michigan Central Depot was intentionally built in the middle of nowhere, inaccessible by foot but serviced by Detroit’s then excellent network of street cars. It was hoped that the station would anchor development in the area. It was, in a word, very early sprawl. This is why the building is so visible on the skyline in Detroit, there’s nothing else around it. When times got tough, there wasn’t enough money to support such an isolated place. There are countless beautiful and decaying buildings in Detroit, to me, this building is a powerful reminder of how not to develop a city. While I suspect that any redevelopment project would eventually descend into ruin, I think there is great value in the building as a monument to what we shouldn’t be doing.
Out my other window is the Motor City Casino, a similarly isolated building that stretches to the sky. While this building corrected some of the obvious infrastructure flaws of the MCD by locating along a pair of highways, it is so disconnected from the place that it’s in that I haven’t once stepped foot in the building, though it’s only 4 short blocks away. When this building falls into disrepair, perhaps they’ll be having the same discussion about it.
I’m not a big fan of tearing anything down but Detroit, for a long time, has had good reason to demolish hundreds upon hundreds of buildings. They have also demolished many buildings for very bad reasons. The city council type of Detroiters see the shininess of the suburbs and want to emulate it in the city. Here’s to hoping the suburbs don’t win out once again.
Like Jon, I too gaze at the station daily from my house and pray that forces will combine to save the place. The ineptitude of the city council is staggering beyond belief, but it is obvious that their calls for demolition are simply political posturing in a chaotic multi-election year. They don’t even have the money to start demolition, let alone tear it down on their dollar & charge the owner, which is what they claim they will do. And everyone knows that they should be putting demolition funds towards getting rid of crack houses and burned-out buildings in the city’s neighborhoods, not tearing down our architectural gems, however “ruined” they may be. There are a number of concerned residents who see the great potential in this incredible building. While it would be a shame to see the station turned into a Homeland Security fortress, it would at least save the building from the wrecking ball. My hopes are that the building will once again become a transit hub, perhaps for the high-speed rail line between Chicago and Detroit which the Obama administration has in the works. Keeping my fingers crossed….
I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my photos in this article — but as before, I would have appreciated having been asked permission, or just a brief message.
Geoffrey hit the nail on the head. High-speed rail is coming to Detroit, and this building is a train station. What is Detroit’s city council thinking? Hellooooo?!
In a city so desperate to make a good image for itself, they want to knock it down? Imagine stepping off the train and into Detroit for the first time and walking into a renovated Michigan Central Station!
This isn’t an isolated story, ya know… Much of the country has heard about this building. People are watching. People are aware. Why can’t President Obama just call up the city council and say “Knock it off. The building stays.”
Does anyone know if the building is going to receive stimulus money?
I hope that something can be done to preserve this station, My town of Portland tor down is historic union station in the 60′s and replaced it with a strip mall, now occupied by a subway shop. The potential of rehabbing the old depot as they did in DC was not even on their minds, that is the model that Detroit should look at, a station that is used for transportation but also for shops, offices et cet, that kind of structure will have a positive economic and social impact on the area, for the expense of tearing done the structure it can be stabilized and partially restored, the reality is that we are not going to build these types of structures again and when rail travel is restored the station will come back to life, but if it is torn down all that will replace it will be a soulless suburban type structure that no one will want to spend any time in.
First, if there was someone who would actually develop the building into something else, that would help! There have been a lot of projects talked about that never get off the ground. Unfortunately that isn’t city council’s fault. And the money it would take to rehab this building is not in the city’s budget. As it stand the building is dangerous, just this past winter they found a homeless man frozen in ice inside the building.
I”ve been inside a couple of years back and it is magnificent, even in its deteriorated state. I would love to see something good come of this but after 20 years empty with no one stepping up with a plan, how long do we continue to let it deteriorate?
While true that the station isn’t the most walkable location from downtown, similar to Motor City, I must say that this building has become a symbol for many of us who envision the next rebirth of Detroit. Destroy it and the much of the magic and mystery of rebuilding Detroit will be lost.
http://www.modeldmedia.com, one of the most consistently uplifting publications on our city, recently ran an article on what is keeping educated young adults in Detroit. Many cited a need for more visionary leadership, green spaces, and public transportation. The destruction of the train station would be a symbolic loss that could drive the hopers and dreamers to move on to cities like Chicago, Toronto and Pittsburgh.
As mentioned by others, what a great opportunity to save a landmark by restoring it to be a station for high speed trains. Restoring the streetcar (light rail) lines to other parts of the city would also make sense. But then of course it’s all political.
Demolish this building ASAP!
I’m a photojournalist and would like to photograph the inside of the building. How can this be accomplished … legally?
Thanks,
Bart 8/30/2009
This is a beautiful building, I would love to see it rebuilt. Being interested in these dilapidated buildings I have been inside. It has a museum of great graffiti murals from some of Detroit’s best, but the destruction done to this building is beyond belief. It would cost them double whatever they think it will cost for renovation. I dont think it needs to be photographed legally you can practically walk right in the building from many different locations, probably closed up since destruction talks started, but last time I was in there a photographer from the Free Press was in there and had no legality to get in. Very historical building, would love to see a valuable reason for renovation.
This Building has been closed as long as I have been alive, though as a metro-Detroit kid in the 80′s and 90′s, as my family would head Dowtown for events, the difinitive symbol stood tall as a marker that we were almost Downtown. Sun piercing through the broken glass windows and burning into my mind.
I Live in London now and would surely shed tears apon my next return to the city to not have this Beautifull Landmark welcoming me.
Please Detroit…. do not let anymore of our history as Detroiters and Americans go to the dump.
I have recently moved from Detroit to San Diego (temporarily) due to lack of work in Motown. While here in southern Cali I have often wondered why Detroit would not consider a similar method of transportation, using trolleys as well as busses in thier public transportation hub. Though I know Detroit is currently cutting back on the public transportation system, the need for affordable transportation still exists. The ties that could be made to this building are evident. Jobs could be created in the meantime and a valuable (and necessary) service to the public could be restored so that so many precious dollars need not be wasted in the maintenance and fueling of a personal vehicle. This may make the difference between making rent or not affording it for many families in the area, or between being able to pay the gas bill or leeching heat instead!!
Why not take the proposed $3.6 million dollars they were going to spend to demolish it, and put that money towards employing local contractors, and other out of work people to actually repair the building?? The thought of tearing this down makes as much sense as tearing down the Empire State building because it is old and outdated..
While you’re at it, that pesky statue of Liberty seems to take a lot of money to maintain, why not tear it down and scrap it for copper?? The commissioners must be just plain stupid, as their “plan” only proves if brains were dynamite, they wouldn’t have enough to blow their nose. They tried to pull the same bull crap here in Atlanta when the Fox theater when was “neglected and in disrepair”. Well, guess what? The community banned together and we saved it, and returned it to its former glory, and is now a profitable business and a historic landmark that people come from all over the world to see. And our Fox theater isn’t as well known as the train station!
There is a VERY STRONG interest in the opulence and amour that was instilled in this building that was built in it at the time Detroit was growing stronger and was cutting edge . If you take the symbols of pride away from the community, you are only going to continue your downward spiral into oblivion. Take pride in what is there, save it for future generations, and educate them to the historical significance the building represents, and invest in WHAT YOU HAVE! You should feel blessed that you have such a glorious building and have a chance to save it! I mean, dang, look at European civilizations with several hundred and thousand year buildings that have survived, without the technology this one was built with. WTF if wrong with you lazy bastards?? Just want to take the easy way out? Well, if I were there you would surely have it, as any commissioner that put his or her name on a document that planed to destroy this building would surely lose their spot in office, as I would do whatever it took to get their @$$e$ booted out, and find someone that that will bring a positive, and motivational message to the streets. You don’t deserve a vote!
In Europe they don’t tear buildings like this down they enhance it and make better use of it. Only in America do we tear down architectural gems from the past. Many countries would love to have a facility like this to beautify and cities too. Just ask any New Yorker about the old Pennsylvania station that was torn down in 1965 we never got over the demolition. I know Detroit is having trouble but once is down it’s down. Here are some mixed use ideas: Train station,galleries,cafes,school, farmers market,restaurants,theater,concerts.museum,atrium, park, cultural events, housing….
What wonderful memories from my childhood – traveling between home in Detroit to Grandparents in New York, with magnificent buildings at both end. Even at age 7 I could recognize, and instantly fall in love with, that magnificence!
It seems to me, this is precisely the kind of thing for which Roosevelt-style Public Works stimulus would be ideal.
Unfortunately, we can’t even mention such things in the current climate in which “recovery” depends on how much we can cut taxes for the very-very-rich, and corporations celebrating PROFITS of billions of dollars, even in a year when disaster has struck (think BP)! A project like this would be perfect for a tragically ailing city!
When is someone in government going to start THINKING, instead of caving in to the idiots out there. A tea party is no substitute for rational thought and good intention, and, in this case, some aesthetic and historic appreciation.
With the way the station stands out it is hard to believe that a company like Quiken Loans doesn’t take over the building. They need the space for parking and it could still be used for the new railway going in, it was set up for multiple use. It can’t be torn down. Detroit politicians have destroyed their city and it all started with Coleman Young. Detroit can say all they want but they need outside help and that is the only way the city will ever be returned to its former glory. I hope that a savy buisness person sees the potential of the station and brings it back to life. The rebirth of this building would be seen around the world and who ever pulls it off will be getting a lot of noteriety. I believe Detroit needs to focus on one problem at a time and the biggest problem is vacant houses.
they found the frozen guy across the street in the old book storage not the train station
I was born and grew-up in Detroit’s NW suburbs, and I have even been to the Michigan Central station to pickup my grandmother off of the train back in happier days too. Jon Kollar is correct, in that the station was built in the middle of nowhere in the hope that downtown development would be built out to it. With Tiger Stadium and the surrounding neighborhood now long gone, the chance that the development of downtown will ever reach the old station is virtually nil, unless, perhaps, Detroit can infill with more casinos. I could see saving the building and rehabbing it into another casino, and it could be a grand casino too. I could even see tying it into a revamped streetcar network linking it with a bunch of other infill casinos all the way to downtown. But I can’t really see making it a train station again.
For one, several of the rights-of-way that used to connect to the station are now gone. Another problem is that several of the remaining rights-of-way have many bridges over them that are ready to fall down. Still another problem is that so many of the adjacent still-existing buildings are abandoned and dilapidated too. Yet another problem is the fact that so much of metro Detroit’s population, the very population that might be inclined to use high-speed rail, lives so far away from there. Yes, located at the junction of I-75 and I-96, the Ambassador Bridge, and close to the Lodge Freeway has its value. But redeveloping the building as a terminal for high-speed rail is pretty much out of the question as it would be way out of the way for most of the people that it would be designed to serve. Remember that gas is steadily climbing in price and that driving long distances is every day becoming more of a problem.
Yes, I could see attempting to make downtown Detroit a norther version of Las Vegas, and I could see the old train station anchoring the far end of a strip of casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment venues. I met Mayor Young once, and even in 1975 he was concerned with trying to bring people downtown to spend their money and to have a good time doing so. I could see a high-speed rail terminal at the intersection of at least two rapid transit lines, and many years ago Detroit’s rail rapid transit used to follow its major avenues. It would be an economic boon for Detroit if a high-speed rail station was located at Woodward and Eight Mile Rd, or perhaps near the junction of Southfield and Grand River or the Jeffries Freeway, or even down by Fairlane. But I just can’t see the location of the Michigan Central Station being useful for anything else than an anchor for a new downtown casino and entertainment strip.
And what to do with all of that vacant inner-city land which isn’t paying much in the way of taxes any longer? Urban farming or cattle ranching? Maybe a high-end urban hunting preserve? Maybe build a couple of high-end golf courses? Paintball among the abandoned buildings? I still remember what Mayor Young said 35 years ago to my friends and I at the Top of the Ponch: He said, “you boys come back down to Detroit, because we always have a good time here”. He was right. Downtown Detroit could be a great place to have fun. It could be the center of a network of new urban mass transit lines, drawing people from the suburbs downtown to have fun again, and the old train station could be a very nice casino too. Detroit used to be such a great city, and it can be great fun again too.