Ford’s move to purchase Michigan Central Station, the long-derelict train depot that for decades now has been a global symbol of Detroit’s painful decline, is the talk of the town. If almost defies belief, having resisted other redevelopment proposals and calls for demolition over the three decades it’s been empty.
On the Daily Detroit News Byte, we spoke with Dan Austin, the voice behind the excellent website Historic Detroit, to get his perspective on what this means for the city and preservation efforts.
Austin called it “an incredible moment in Detroit’s history” and expressed his sense of disbelief.
“We really didn’t think this was going to happen,” he said. “For so long now — it’s been 30 years now, 30 years this January — that the depot closed. No one thought that this was going to happen. It was always going to be a ruin, or it was going to be torn down. Here we are, and what a difference a couple of years makes for the outlook not just for this building, but for the city itself.”
Austin said long-lost buildings like the Lafayette Building, Statler Hotel and the Madison-Lennox “undeniably would have been redeveloped has we just had some leadership that had a little bit more vision.”
“I think this underscores the importance of preservation. You are seeing people — individuals and multinational Fortune 500 companies — seeing the value in saving an irreplaceable, architecturally and historically significant piece of architecture.”
Have a listen in the player atop this post.
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