Detroit: Michigan Central + UM Center for Innovation#
Two innovation campuses being built within a mile of each other in Detroit — one corporate-anchored (Ford), one university-anchored (University of Michigan). Together they represent a third model of large-building reuse: corporate campus + urban innovation zone, distinct from both the nonprofit commons (MassRobotics) and university research (CMU RIC) models.
Michigan Central#
| Name | Michigan Central |
| Anchor | Ford Motor Company |
| Location | Michigan Central Station, 2001 15th Street, Corktown, Detroit |
| Opened | 2024 (after $950M restoration) |
| Innovation operator | Newlab |
| Distance from Huntington Place | ~2.5 miles west |
The Building#
The Michigan Central Station — Detroit’s iconic Beaux-Arts train station, abandoned in 1988 and left as a ruin for 30 years — was purchased by Ford in 2018 and restored as the anchor of a mobility-focused innovation campus. The $950M restoration is one of the most expensive adaptive reuse projects in American history.