Ford Motor Company may purchase and redevelop Michigan Central Station in Detroit

Massive in scale when up close. They have tried revitalizing it several times.

The downtown area is starting to grow around it again.

So are my Ford dividends going up or down because of this?

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I never get up there so forgive the potentially dumb question but doesn't much of downtown Detroit and Chicago look like a bombed out WWII city?

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Yes and no. There are a lot of huge square foot buildings that are in good shape, just no businesses for them. The core downtown part is really nice and revitalized.

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I never get up there so forgive the potentially dumb question but doesn't much of downtown Detroit and Chicago look like a bombed out WWII city?

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No.

Went there in 2016, and the answer is no.. the downtown areas actually look pretty nice, with a combo of older and newer skyscapers, ALL of their sports facilities, nice landscaping and parks; a vibrant riverfront park, etc. The Michigan Central is on the very edge of downtown (and was a train station), thus why it is being addressed later.

Now, the rest of the City of Detroit-- the older residential areas in particular, between 100-75 years old (like New Orleans' Uptown)-- looks like the lower 9th Ward post-Katrina. Vacant lots galore, when there are structures left half the time they are vacant.



The same goes for schools, churches, retail buildings and some factories. Many abandoned/empty, overgrown with vegetation.

It's kind of neat in a creepy way. People have taken video of things like deer, pheasant and foxes in these urban neighborhoods. Sort of like nature is taking over again.

I always hoped that building would be restored.

It would be interesting to know the money details of that purchase, I bet they aren’t spending much

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Now, the rest of the City of Detroit-- the older residential areas in particular, between 100-75 years old (like New Orleans' Uptown)-- looks like the lower 9th Ward post-Katrina. Vacant lots galore, when there are structures left half the time they are vacant.

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The tragedy is that a lot of housing and public buildings that have been allowed to decay could be beautiful if restored. Much of it is very well built and designed when people had a lot of pride in Detroit.

People are walking away from beautiful architecture. In many cases abandoned buildings are being demolished or burned out of completely justified concerns of crime.

I'm glad that they are restoring Michigan Central instead of demolishing it. Detroit's recovery is very slow, but hopefully it starts to accelerate soon.

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I never get up there so forgive the potentially dumb question but doesn't much of downtown Detroit and Chicago look like a bombed out WWII city?

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Yes. The similarities are striking.

I was talking about the areas on the edge as shown by the previous poster and not the city center obviously. But, in the spirit of the OT, that was a pretty decent post.