To close out the year, we're taking a look back at some of our favorite Daily J podcast episodes of 2022. If you missed this one, you missed out. And if you already heard it, it's worth another listen. Enjoy!
By Jeff Gilbert. WWJ AutoBeat Reporter
(WWJ) As one of Detroit's most notable eyesores transitions into one of the city's jewels, it's time to get a peek at the progress in the final stretch of a massive restoration project.
"I have been opening and closing this chain and this lock for almost five years," said Richard Bardelli, who's in charge of Ford's efforts to transform the Michigan Central Station, as he takes us on a tour that shows just how much work has been done, and how much is left to complete.
From here on in the quotes will all be his, as we walk through the station and the nearby Book Depository Building. That smaller building will be finished this year, the station next year. Given the realities of construction in a supply-chain-challenged world, it's impossible to give more specific timetables.
Let's check out the train station first.
"I get chills when I go in there now. Ya know, over the last 30 years it was this ruinous decay, and it's all just awesome in there now," Bardelli said.
It's not yet the beautiful masterpiece that we're likely to see next year. But that decay is gone, and the transformation is evident. Just look up.
"There's 29,000 tiles that make up this ceiling in here," said Bardelli. "Every one of them had to be touched."
It was a painstaking process, followed by grouting. That's eight-and-a-half miles of grout.
Time to look down and shiny portions of marble flooring that are starting to appear. It looks brand new, but 70% of it is the original marble that was put in place roughly a century ago.
"We came in, polished it, and thought 'We can save all of this."
This room was once used as a set for apocalyptic movies. Four years ago, If you took one of the tours the tours Ford gave before construction started, you saw bare walls, with holes, and lots of graffiti.
Those walls have mostly been re-plastered, although some work remains to be done, elegant touches have returned, and you can see what will soon be a beautiful gathering place.
"It's one of the few spaces in the city where you can have 800 people to come and have an event."
That's just part of the public space. You go past a ticket lobby and an elevator lobby to the concourse area toward the back.
The walls of the concourse area are pretty much finished. You can almost feel the spirits of the people who used to wait here for trains. Soon, it will be a public gathering place. Where it was once open to the sky, glass has been put in the skylight.
Let's go outside, and take a look at walls that were once filthy and falling apart. The walls have been cleaned and restored.
"It's sort of that last piece," said Bardelli. "You sort of see the decay of the building will be gone, which is sort of exciting for all of us."
Windows have been restored to how they looked when the building originally opened. One difference, they won't be opened because of air conditioning. The ductwork for the air conditioning has been hidden, so it looks like it used to.
Artwork included in the building's facade has been taken back to its original look. It started with an artist, who created a sculpture out of a block of limestone.
"It took one guy over 440 hours."
Bardelli said that work of art was scanned and reproduced as other art forms in the front of the building.
It's impressive to stand back and take it all in.
"This is the first time in over thirty years that we're seeing this put back the way it was in 1913."
The area in front of the train station is totally torn up. Utility crews are working underneath the road. Roosevelt Park is getting an upgrade, and the roads are going to be repaired.
But, If you drive down Michigan Avenue, you can see the restaurants and businesses are getting a facelift as well.
Just next door to the train station is a smaller building that once served as a postal facility and a book depository. It had been shuttered for years, much like the train station.
"There were trees growing in this building. There was water in here."
Bardelli said people were ice skating in the flooded basement, and playing hockey.
This building is nearly done, although to the uninitiated, it seems like there's a lot of work to do, as the interior remains exposed concrete and open ductwork. But the hardest work has been completed.
"We're in the midst of finishing up our air conditioning system, our electrical system and framing in our walls."
This building, Bardelli said, will not have the elaborate interior of the train station. It will have an atrium, open spaces, as well as work spaces including 3-D printing, a metal shop and other mechanical equipment you need when you're designing and building prototype vehicles and parts.
"All of the prototyping that any small company may want to do as they start to look at their different products for future mobility, they'll be able to do that here."
We will learn more about who will be in these buildings closer to occupancy.
But as this complicated project comes to live, Bardelli has one promise:
"It won't ever be like this again. We're never gonna let it get dirty. We're never gonna let it look like it did. This will be the symbol that we always wanted it to be for our city."
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