Concert, 10-day open house planned for Michigan Central Station reopening in Detroit

Corktown neighbors get first dibs on registration

Michigan Central Station is shown, July 13, 2023, in Detroit. On July 18, 2013, a state-appointed manager made Detroit the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy. A decade later, the Motor City has risen from the ashes of insolvency, with balanced budgets, revenue increases and millions of dollars socked away. Corktown, a neighborhood just east of downtown, got a boost in 2018 when Ford Motor Co. bought and began renovating the train station, which for years was a symbol of the city's blight. The building will be part of a campus focusing on autonomous vehicles. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) (Carlos Osorio, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The historic Michigan Central Station is reopening in June, and a series of community-events are planned to help celebrate.

Ford Motor Company has been restoring the old Detroit train depot for the last six years. Now, with plans to open the building on June 6, 2024, residents will get the chance to mark the reopening with free events.

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The 11-day celebration includes an outdoor concert, open house hours and more. Here’s what’s planned and how to register.

Michigan Central OPEN Celebration

On June 6, Michigan Central will kick off the festivities with Michigan Central OPEN Live, a 90-minute outdoor concert in front of The Station headlined by well-known Detroit musical artists. We aren’t sure who the artists will be.

The show will feature short films, appearances by local leaders, and creators telling stories of innovation and culture from around the city and the region.

From June 7-16, Michigan Central will host its OPEN House, offering a first look inside the Station’s historic ground floor through a range of exhibits, entertainment, art, and more.

Michigan Central’s art program will also bring art installations, including a new iteration of Reddymade’s me + you, a critically acclaimed interactive sculpture specifically for Michigan Central.

After its reopening event in June, The Station will begin a phased reactivation of the building over the next several months and years as restaurant, retail, and other commercial and community-focused partners take up residency. The first floor will be open to the public for tours on Fridays and Saturdays through August. Expanded hours will be announced for fall, when the first phase of commercial activations opens to the public.

Tickets: Registration for OPEN Live and OPEN House will begin online at michigancentral.com on May 17 for neighbors surrounding The Station, and on May 21 for the general public.

Michigan Central Station closed in 1988 and was bought by Ford in 2018.

---> Related: Workers find 108-year-old letter in a bottle while renovating Michigan Central Station


About the Author

Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.

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