Detroit's Michigan Central Station, a towering ruin that came to symbolize the city's dramatic fall, has been sold to the Ford Motor Co., which is considering a significant renovation of the empty train depot to make it a center foradvanced automotive technology.
Matthew Moroun, whose family enterprise has owned the empty station since 1995, announced the sale Monday morning before a crowd of reporters and photographers. He stood in front of the once-elegant structure, now surrounded by razor wire and a chain-link fence.
The Ford sale also included a nearby former Detroit school books depository that the family owns. Moroun declined to disclose the total sale price.
"The deal is complete," Moroun said. "The future of the depot is assured. The next steward of the building is the right one for its future. The depot will become a shiny symbol of Detroit's progress and its success."
Ford is scheduled to share details of its plans for the station on June 19.
The sale has been expected since mid-March, when word of the automaker's interest leaked out. Though family patriarch Manuel "Matty" Moroun is known as a tough negotiator who hangs onto properties, the process appeared to move forward steadily.
Matthew, Matty's son, told reporters Monday that the "golden opportunity" for the station was proposed to him in October. He characterized negotiations with Ford as respectful.
Last month, the Free Press reported that the Morouns had transferred ownership of the 18-story station and nearby school books depository to limited liability companies set up by a New York law firm that had done past legal work for Ford.
Ford, based in Dearborn, last month transferred about 200 members of its mobility team into a nearby former factory site. The automaker is also said to be interested in expanding its footprint in the same Corktown neighborhood.
The Beaux Arts-style building, designed by the same architectural firms as Grand Central Terminal in New York, opened in 1913 as the tallest train station in the world.
It served as Detroit's main train depot until it was closed by Amtrak in 1988.
The Moroun enterprise started obtaining parts of the station property in the early 1990s, and has owned it all since 1995. The family also owns the Ambassador Bridge and thousands of properties across Detroit.
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