What Ford plans to do with the Glass House site and its other property holdings

Ford felt that partnering with the city was a good opportunity “to be a great neighbor,” he said, emphasizing that “a community space, whatever type of park that might be, would really be good and working with the mayor we will continue to develop those future plans.”

Ford announced in 2019 it was revamping its campus. It has worked to ensure that the sites it has today are sites that the company will utilize and they are designed to facilitate the type of work the company does.

Including the new building, here’s a list of Ford’s largest and most recognizable properties in the Dearborn and the surrounding area, all of which have been either renovated or are new construction:

• Driving Dynamics Lab (trackside): Located trackside at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center on Oakwood Boulevard, it houses engineering functions.

• Innovation HUB and World Headquarters: Located on Oakwood Boulevard this new campus will include the new Ford World Headquarters Building, which can hold up to 4,000 people and will be dedicated as the new headquarters in November.

• Ford Engineering Laboratory: Located on Oakwood Boulevard, the 100-year-old building was designed by architect Albert Kahn and has undergone several redesigns and additions in its history. It’s more recent focuses on employee wellness and inspiration.

• Rotunda Center: Destroyed by fire in 1962, Ford Rotunda is an important part of metro Detroit and Ford history. The site remained empty until 2000, when the Michigan Technical Education Center opened. Part of Henry Ford College, the center provides proctored professional certifications and tests and houses the Workforce and Professional Development programs.

• Wagner Place: A 150,000-square-foot mixed-use development, on Michigan Avenue between Mason and Monroe. The upper floors are office space and the first floor retail, restaurants and wellness tenants make this urban space a true destination spot in West Downtown Dearborn.

• Ford Experience Center: Located on Village Road in Dearborn, the Ford Experience Center is a meeting place for employees, dealers and others to collaborate.

• New Model Programs Development Center: Located on Oakwood Boulevard, these office spaces reopened in July 2024 following a major renovation to infrastructure and systems. The renovation encompassed 98,000 square-feet of open design with more natural light, collaboration spaces, individual workstations with sit-stand desks, and manufacturing team spaces.

• The Factory in Corktown, Detroit: Ford moved its business and strategy teams, including Team Edison, to a 45,000-square-foot building known as The Factory at 1907 Michigan Ave., across the street from the old Tiger Stadium site. The location was once home to Chicago Hosiery and Detroit-Alaska Knitting Mills factories.

• Michigan Central Station in Corktown, Detroit: Ford invested close to $1 billion to buy and renovate the old train station. It is now a new mobility innovation district located in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood.

In a statement to the Detroit Free Press, Dearborn spokesman Hassan Abbas said the city expects to work with Ford going forward.

“Ford Motor Company’s importance to our community cannot be overstated. More than just the industrial heartbeat of the modern American economy, Ford’s legacy is deeply intertwined with this city’s history,” the statement read. “We’ve been proud neighbors with the world headquarters across Michigan Avenue, and we are excited for Ford to contribute to the city’s vitality as the company finds a new home in its expansive new, state-of-the-art facility just down the road in Dearborn. The city of Dearborn will always be the home of Ford, whether it’s down the block or right across the street.”

Dobleske said Ford continues to want to contribute to Dearborn’s economy as its employees come to the city to work.

“We’ve been partnering very closely with the city, with Henry Ford Village, the Fairlane Estate, the Marriott, which we just reopened earlier this year, Michigan Central Station, all of those entities,” Dobleske said. “We have the opportunity to connect them in many ways to not only tell the story of Ford Motor Co.’s history and talk about our present, but also talk about the future Ford Motor Co.

Dobleske said Ford’s work on building a new innovation campus with a new world headquarters, along with renovating 29 buildings and the 14 million square feet of space in the new center will create a walkable environment not only for on campus but also to Michigan Avenue “to make sure our team members are participating in restaurants and stores and shopping and everything else.”

Ford has focused on optimizing as well as modernizing its property portfolio globally, but specifically in Dearborn, Dobleske said.

“Despite pulling out a number of those — what I’d consider obsolete type facilities for how we work today — we still have roughly the same square footage in the Dearborn community,” Dobleske said. “So while a number of buildings, we’ve either gotten out of leases or we’ve sold those properties, because of the work that we’ve done in some of other facilities in addition to the new HUB and world headquarters facility, our square footage is roughly the same.”

More: Ford Rotunda was magical place before fire destroyed it 60 years ago

Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What Ford has planned for Dearborn’s Glass House, other properties