On the Rebound

If renewal is a hallmark of economic recovery, then the Midwest is a walking, talking, hard-working advertisement for a U.S. comeback. Here’s a brief tour of redevelopment projects across a region defined by resilience and reinvention.

Michigan

Two years after Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford announced plans to restore Detroit’s train station, abandoned since 1988, as the center of an innovation hub, the company in November unveiled the site plan for Michigan Central, a 30-acre mobility innovation district centered around the iconic Michigan Central Station and adjacent Book Depository, located at the nexus of four Detroit neighborhoods.

The plan envisions a walkable community, anchored by the train station, that will prioritize the needs of residents and businesses, as well as the 5,000 employees who work there. The Book Depository, designed by Albert Kahn, will be revitalized into a maker space by architecture firm Gensler. The Factory is already home to 250 members of Ford’s autonomous vehicle business unit. Building West will be a new construction to the west of the station. A mobility platform will be located on the elevated train tracks behind the station.

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