Michigan Central Station Lights

**Zads07** · June-26-12, 05:42 PM

Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone knew why the lights were on in the Michigan Central Station this past Sunday, June 24? I assume it's because they are doing work inside there including the roof too. Does anyone have any physical proof that they are doing work inside?

**mcsdetroitfriend** · June-26-12, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by Zads07

Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone knew why the lights were on in the Michigan Central Station this past Sunday, June 24? I assume it's because they are doing work inside there including the roof too. Does anyone have any physical proof that they are doing work inside?

http://facebook.com/michigancentral will give you all the answers you seek.

Short answer, yes the lights are work lights inside. They also keep a generator onsite. If you had walked to the back of the depot you'll notice the roof has been removed to just the frame. So yes work is being done. Slowly, but surely

**Hypestyles** · June-26-12, 08:18 PM

a full renovation is needed.. moroun could spend money on that rather than the anti-bridge ads and petition.. oh, well...

**Zacha341** · June-26-12, 08:24 PM

Hmmm, it be nice to get some photos of that!

Welcome Zads07!

Originally Posted by Zads07

Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone knew why the lights were on in the Michigan Central Station this past Sunday, June 24? I assume it's because they are doing work inside there including the roof too. Does anyone have any physical proof that they are doing work inside?

**jpbollma** · June-26-12, 09:14 PM

I wouldn't get too excited about this until we see some major developments. This is Moroun we are talking about here.

**jtf1972** · June-26-12, 10:34 PM

Has that backhoe moved in the last year?

**jpbollma** · June-26-12, 11:00 PM

What do you guys think this building could become? Just wondering. I don't see anymore casinos in the future..I can't imagine anyone pay what it would cost to rehab this place for office space. I would love to see it rehabbed, but are there any realistic ideas out there at all?

**Gistok** · June-27-12, 02:33 AM

As long as it's mothballed until a possible use can be found... I'm content... Maroun himself fully knows that he'll never live to see the day that this becomes a functional building... Mothballing for the future is better than what was there... AND better than another empty lot in Detroit...

**mcsdetroitfriend** · June-27-12, 02:46 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

As long as it's mothballed until a possible use can be found... I'm content... Maroun himself fully knows that he'll never live to see the day that this becomes a functional building... Mothballing for the future is better than what was there... AND better than another empty lot in Detroit...

It's pretty much his wife's project, she's in charge of every meeting I've ever attended in regards to the building. She's been pretty stoked on this whole thing which is encouraging. All i've seen beyond the roof work, is a backhoe carrying a dumpster to the first mezzanine floor, which says they're still cleaning out the upper floors.

**dmike76** · June-27-12, 07:04 AM

If the NITC goes in, Maroun will abandon the train station again. Seems to me this is just another ploy to dupe people that he's on their side when really he wants to line his pockets with billions of dollars of bridge tolls. The benefits far outweighs the costs of working on the train station.

**jt1** · June-27-12, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by mcsdetroitfriend

It's pretty much his wife's project, she's in charge of every meeting I've ever attended in regards to the building. She's been pretty stoked on this whole thing which is encouraging. All i've seen beyond the roof work, is a backhoe carrying a dumpster to the first mezzanine floor, which says they're still cleaning out the upper floors.

I'd think that if she is 'stoked' there would be more action. Given their financial means and desperate need of any good will towards the city it is clear they are doing just enough to not cost them more than a few bucks so they can continue the charade that they are doing something.

The only way the train station will ever be rehabbed is if Manny and Matty both die [[fingers crossed) and the project is taken on by someone that actually gives a damn about the city and the building.

**dmike76** · June-27-12, 08:45 AM

I was approached by a petitioner yesterday trying to get me to support putting the bridge on the ballot. I wasn't overly rude IMO, but I told him that unlike him, I don't believe anything that billionaire slumlords tell me.

**Wheels** · June-27-12, 08:58 AM

Money is no object!

Attachment 14285

**casscorridor** · June-27-12, 09:04 AM

How about a train station?

Amtramk, VIA Rail, Commuter rail to Airport/Ann Arbor [[among other lines), Light rail from Downtown through Southwest to Dearborn. A world class train station in Detroit

I see Michigan Ave as being just as important of a corridor as Woodward. If not more, since it leads to Dearborn which is a major job corridor and site of UM-Dearborn and along with southwest, an immigrant center of our city. It also has proximity to the Airport and Ypsi [[EMU) Ann Arbor [[UM).

Michigan Central Station could be the physical culmination of such a revitalization of the Michigan Ave corridor.

**Hermod** · June-27-12, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by casscorridor

How about a train station?

Amtramk, VIA Rail, Commuter rail to Airport/Ann Arbor [[among other lines), Light rail from Downtown through Southwest to Dearborn. A world class train station in Detroit

I see Michigan Ave as being just as important of a corridor as Woodward. If not more, since it leads to Dearborn which is a major job corridor and site of UM-Dearborn and along with southwest, an immigrant center of our city. It also has proximity to the Airport and Ypsi [[EMU) Ann Arbor [[UM).

Michigan Central Station could be the physical culmination of such a revitalization of the Michigan Ave corridor.

Like in a lot of cities, AMTRAK would rather set up shop in an "AMSHACK" than to pay for maintenance on a huge barn of a station which can only be justified by multiple trains every day. MCS isn't the only "central station" or "union station" that AMTRAK has abandoned. Even if MM were to completely restore the station to its full former glory, AMTRAK would only move back in if the rent was nominal and no responsibility for AMTRAK to do any repair, utilities, or custodial work.

There are many other "world class" train stations of architectural note and historicity sitting vacant while AMTRAK operates out of a pre-fab building. Jut off hand, I can think of Richmond VA and Jacksonville FL.

**dmike76** · June-27-12, 09:27 AM

It is a beautiful piece of architecture and I'm all for restoration, but damn....I'm sick of this building being used as a political football. Right now, it's just a symbol of Detroit's decay. I'm having a very difficult time deciding whether or not I just want it to be torn down. It's not feasible to use it for much other than a train station. Even at it's peak most of the upper floors were not being used. Maybe it's time to just let it go......

**splake** · June-27-12, 12:53 PM

I agree, let it go. Even if restoration was possible [[it is not realistic, it is a waste of resources) every future struggle will be a reminder of the tragic abandonment it is today. An empty lot would be better.

**Gistok** · June-27-12, 01:41 PM

Yeah... let's let it go.... to hell, like so much of the city.... some of you people totally lack vision of any kind... is it being mothballed any worse than an empty weed strewn field??

Shows that some of you would rather see it ripped down, only because your hate for Matty is so intense...

Here's an example of a British Hotel [[Grand Midland) at St. Pancras Station in London... that was closed since 1935!!! That was almost 3/4 of a century.

And look at it today... because someone had the foresight NOT to have a "rip it down" mentality...

http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/lonpr-st-pancras

Well at least we know what Detroit IS lacking... people with vision and imagination....

**noise** · June-27-12, 01:54 PM

What real good does an unrealistic vision or fanciful imagination do for Detroit? Are you suggesting it should remain vacant until Detroit turns into another London?

**dmike76** · June-27-12, 01:58 PM

Gistok, I hate it when old beautiful buildings are torn down. Absolutely hate it. It erodes the personality of the city. Do you think this thing is really going to be completely mothballed if Snyder gets the bridge deal done? No way. If Maroun loses he'll leave it open to vandals and Michael Bay all over again. As long as Maroun owns that building, consider it dead. It will crumble on its own into oblivion, much like many of the homes in Brush Park.

**Wheels** · June-27-12, 02:25 PM

After World War II most of East Germany was left to rot for nearly 50 years. After the wall came down a rejuvenation project started.

The pictures of before and after on this web site are remarkable. This site was posted before on another thread but I think it relates well to the Ruins of Detroit. There will be a day when this happens here!

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/ph...cke-59943.html

**Adamkir** · June-27-12, 03:33 PM

Yeah tear it down.

Theeennnn years down the road, once Detroit finally gets is act together. Then maybe, just maybe they can put a post modern prefabricate station in front of Roosevelt Park a Lansingesque style building. Definitely be cheaper. Screw the historic value of a building constructed as the world's largest train station. Maybe they can replace it with a field like Tigers Stadium. Those iconic fields really bring people to town. .. I'd rather see a tumbling pile than a field. .

**Adamkir** · June-27-12, 03:47 PM

ironic about the east German pictures is that Detroit is under similar thinking leadership as the former Osten Deutscher [[east Germans) and have been now longer than the east existed. . Until the city embraces the true free market ideals, this state will be perpetual.. look who has helped bring this city back more than anyone in the Detroit government.. Its been the capitalist like illich and Gilbert . Where would Detroit be without them?

**Hermod** · June-27-12, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by Adamkir

Yeah tear it down.

Theeennnn years down the road, once Detroit finally gets is act together. Then maybe, just maybe they can put a post modern prefabricate station in front of Roosevelt Park a Lansingesque style building. Definitely be cheaper. Screw the historic value of a building constructed as the world's largest train station. Maybe they can replace it with a field like Tigers Stadium. Those iconic fields really bring people to town. .. I'd rather see a tumbling pile than a field. .

The building was constructed at a time when the new York Central Railroad operated as a series of decentralized companies. It was the headquarters of the Michigan Central, one of those companies. As a result, it had to house the offices and executive suites of the Michigan Central Railroad, the offices of the Detroit Division of the Michigan Central, and a small army of car clerks and freight clerks. That is the reason you have a large office building on top of the concourse of a major city railroad station. By 1971, the executive offices had been consolidated elsewhere, the freight clerks and car clerks had been replaced by computers, and the number of passenger trains had dwindled into insignificance.

Even if passenger rail travel meets a post-oil comeback, you won't need the office building and an AMSHACK can handle a dozen or more trains daily. The office portion is in the wrong location for future development.

In other words, the building is functionally obsolete and has few prospects to be repurposed.

**Adamkir** · June-27-12, 04:18 PM

I don't understand.. Corktown would be another ideal area to rejuvenate. Close to downtown and very historic. It could be a focal point for that said rejuvenation. .