IMI & IMTEF
BAC Local 2 Michigan, IMI/IMTEF Help Reimagine Motor City Transportation Hub BAC Local 2 MI member and foreman Michael Hipes working on a Guastavino tile mockup to prepare for work on Michigan Central Station.
BAC Local 2 MIC member Austin Schasser preparing to set the closure unit in the Guastavino tile vault mockup at the IMI Metro Detroit Training Center.
BAC Local 2 MI brick apprentice Anthony Barnes.
he comeback is on for Michigan Central Station (MCS). The once grand Beaux Arts-style depot is now the new state of the art transportation center for the Ford Motor Co. Welcoming visitors with its marble floors, 68-foot Corinthian columns and Guastavino tile vaults divided by coffered arches, the center was a symbol of progress for the Motor City. The depot, which opened the day after Christmas in 1913, had been abandoned since 1988—a
painful, infamous symbol of Detroit’s decline. But renovation efforts by Ford has breathed new life into the iconic center—inviting more hope for the city’s continued renovation efforts. The four-building, 30-acre campus is at the center of a $740 million redevelopment project designed to connect to the surrounding neighborhood. Ford, which calls the planned campus an “inclusive, vibrant and walkable innovation district,” purchased the depot in 2018 as the
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18 // BRICKLAYERS AND ALLIED CRAFTWORKERS
centerpiece of its Corktown Campus, which will focus on creating autonomous and electric vehicles. When complete, the 1.2 millionsquare-foot campus will include offices, retail space, housing, parks and community places. It is expected to deliver 5,000 new jobs to Corktown. Michael Hipes, BAC Local 2 MI member and foreman at Michigan Central Station, works for the BAC signatory contractor, Leidal & Hart, which is performing structural repairs to the topside of the Guastavino vaults, along with other masonry repairs throughout the building. Signatories Grunwell-Cashero and Graciano Corporation have also teamed up to replace, cut out, and tuckpoint the exposed side of the Guastavino tile. “I’m very excited to be a part of the team that will keep this beautiful structure standing for the next 100 years,” Hipes says. “One day, my grandchildren will be able to enjoy it.” When Ford Construction Manager Christman Brinker and design firm, Quinn Evans Architects, approached the project, they knew they had to turn to highly skilled, trained labor for a project of this scope and significance. In particular, the
