Major Ford Announcement Today!

[hybridy]

Live Stream @ 12:30pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVo5WhpI9hI

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Good news. Better if it meant coming back to Detroit. I do think Ford is the best run US automaker.

[hybridy]

7.5 Million SF new construction #OMG

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

7.5 Million SF new construction #OMG

As much as I would love to see that in Detroit proper, I have no idea where you would put it. I do firmly believe that what is good for Metro Detroit is good for the City of Detroit, so this is great news. Its nice to shake off the old dowdy clothes and freshen up every now and then.

[313WX]

Good news. Better if it meant coming back to Detroit. I do think Ford is the best run US automaker.

Why is that? Just curious to know...

[tkelly1986]

Disappointing. This could have been a huge game-changer for the City of Detroit, and set Ford apart from the others. Moreover, young folks do not want to work in Dearborn. Young talent wants to be in vibrant, walk-able urban settings and yes, I understand much of the production, R&D needs to be on these sprawling campuses, but much of the development could be in Detroit.

[hybridy]

http://www.freep.com/story/money/car...ices/82904392/

[mikeg19]

Disappointing. This could have been a huge game-changer for the City of Detroit, and set Ford apart from the others. Moreover, young folks do not want to work in Dearborn. Young talent wants to be in vibrant, walk-able urban settings and yes, I understand much of the production, R&D needs to be on these sprawling campuses, but much of the development could be in Detroit.

Working at Ford PDC currently, and what's paramount to design/engineering/studio operations here is how close we are to each other. We are constantly in contact with other facets of production and meeting face to face is a necessity. Having certain parts of our internal operations in Detroit and all other aspects of Ford in Dearborn, not to mention Ford would have to purchase land to develop if it moved operations to Detroit, literally makes no sense what so ever.

Having said that, this is a massive development. We were all told here earlier today about the project and what it's going to entail. We are going from stone age to Google essentially. If any of you have ever been over here to PDC, you'll understand. Shame it's going to take 10 years to come to fruition, but we are all looking forward to our new home.

[Johnnny5]

Great news! Perhaps the construction will temporarily offset some of the blue collar jobs they're sending to Hermosillo.

[Bham1982]

Ford's buildings are complete dumps, so this is big news, very positive.

Would be even better for employees if they actually moved closer to where their employees live, but ties to Dearborn are too strong. I doubt they'll ever move north.

[dtowncitylover]

Disappointing. This could have been a huge game-changer for the City of Detroit, and set Ford apart from the others. Moreover, young folks do not want to work in Dearborn. Young talent wants to be in vibrant, walk-able urban settings and yes, I understand much of the production, R&D needs to be on these sprawling campuses, but much of the development could be in Detroit.

I don't think that's necessarily true. I mean Silicon Valley isn't exactly Manhattan. As a young person, I just wan to live in a metro region/state that is forward thinking in terms of infrastructure and education spending, that has a health urban core and things to entertain me and keep me occupied outside of work, and tying with that a high standard of living. Unfortunately, I live in Detroit.

This is very exciting and I applaud them for doing this, though the iconic Glass House must stay. I'm just glad it wasn't a mural announcement.

[dtowncitylover]

Would be even better for employees if they actually moved closer to where their employees live, but ties to Dearborn are too strong. I doubt they'll ever move north.

How do you know everyone in Dearborn lives north? This is probably the most Bham-centric post ever. I'm sure some live downriver, west Wayne, downtown Detroit. Not everyone lives north.

[hybridy]

Good news. Better if it meant coming back to Detroit. I do think Ford is the best run US automaker.

Ford Motor Co was never really in Detroit. They were well into Highland Park in 1909...

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Why is that? Just curious to know...

They seem [[by public appearance, anyway) to be the company most focused on tech and operational innovation. I am no auto biz expert, and do not follow closely what happens. But when I read about Ford, I read about how they are updating plants and trying new things [[aluminum body cars, etc). Perhaps they just have a better publicity department.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Ford Motor Co was never really in Detroit. They were well into Highland Park in 1909...

I realize that. But Highland Park is both closer to downtown and entirely surrounded by Detroit.

[Honky Tonk]

Ford Motor Co was never really in Detroit. They were well into Highland Park in 1909...

They occupied one of the Ren Cen towers in the late 80's-mid 90's. Henry Ford II was one of the original Ren Cen sponsors.

[dtowncitylover]

They occupied one of the Ren Cen towers in the late 80's-mid 90's. Henry Ford II was one of the original Ren Cen sponsors.

That's like Chrysler having their one office in the Dime Building. It's more out charity than true root planting. I don't care whether or not they're in Detroit though. Their ties are to Dearborn and that's just fine.

[Bham1982]

How do you know everyone in Dearborn lives north? This is probably the most Bham-centric post ever. I'm sure some live downriver, west Wayne, downtown Detroit. Not everyone lives north.

Their staffing does tend to live north. The Southfield Freeway was built basically to ferry Ford execs from their homes to their workplace. Most employees tend to live in Oakland County, or in the NW corner of Wayne [[Northville/Plymouth/Canton).

In any case, won't ever move. They own the land, are so heavily intertwined with Dearborn, and their employees just have to deal. There are worse things in life than a long commute.

[casscorridor]

There is no point in moving to the city. Everything is concentrated in Dearborn.

If you want to point fingers, point them at Chrysler. They moved from Highland Park to the middle of nowhere Auburn Hills and left their former home in ruins.

Improved regional transport should link Dearborn to the City, making living in the city more viable for Ford employees.

[313WX]

They seem [[by public appearance, anyway) to be the company most focused on tech and operational innovation. I am no auto biz expert, and do not follow closely what happens. But when I read about Ford, I read about how they are updating plants and trying new things [[aluminum body cars, etc). Perhaps they just have a better publicity department.

GM's just as aggressive as Ford in tech and operational innovation, if not more so.

GM purchased large shares in Lyft and an automation company [[Cruise) to invest in ride sharing and autonomous vehicles [[which they expect to have on the roads starting in 2017).

Not to mention, GM will beat everyone else by the end of 2016 with the first regular production all-electric vehicle [[Chevy Bolt).

And arguably, you can say Ford's piggybacking off GM's $1 Billion plan for its Tech Center, which was announced May of 2015.

So it's certainly not your father's or grandfather's GM these days [[if that's what you're still thinking), not even close.

What concerns me about Ford is that they're repeating the same mistakes as before, as far as replying on Rental Car sales in order to boost their sales numbers, whereas GM seems a lot more disciplined and is instead focusing on boosting its retail sales.

[Mind field]

It would have been nice if Ford threw the city a bone and moved some part of their headquarters offices back downtown, perhaps as a lead tenant in a new Hudson's block tower. I'm pretty sure they could spare some workers and move them to Detroit, i highly doubt it's absolutely crucial for them ALL to be in Dearborn. But this is still great news for the region. Dearborn is already a built out suburb and has been for decades, so it's great they are investing in making it significantly better.

[Gistok]

Ford had the entire 200 Tower at Renaissance Center... 1,700 employees. When GM moved their HQ to the RenCen.... they did so by trying to prevent companies they displaced from moving to the burbs.... but Ford had no plan but to get their people out of Detroit and out to Dearborn, ASAP. They also enticed AAA to move their HQ from the United Artists Building out to their Fairlane property back in 1974.

Sadly Wayne county's largest employer has virtually no employees in Detroit.

[hybridy]

hopefully the local news organizations will do a comparison of tax breaks when ford ultimately asks dearborn for some kind of break.

GM and Ford both spoke of up to 1 Billion in investment each...
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/bus...ject/26610523/

[mikeg19]

And arguably, you can say Ford's piggybacking off GM's $1 Billion plan for its Tech Center, which was announced May of 2015.

While on the surface that may seem true, I don't think that quite is. The Ford campus plan has been in development for over 3 years dating back to 2013 when Alan Mulally was at Ford. Mark Fields has just taken over the plan and continued forward with it.

The GM investment into the Tech Center, if you speak with some Tech Center employees [[my dad included), is almost solely based on the August 2014 floods that crippled the Tech Center. They lost a couple hundred millions in tooling and labs. Some of their infrastructure systems were damaged or destroyed as well. So that kinda pushed them into updating studios, offices, etc. If that flood hadn't have happened, I don't believe that you'd see that investment.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

At least it's an "inner ring" suburban investment.