Ford Motor Co.’s emerging mobility innovation district set on 30 acres in and around Michigan Central Station just west of downtown Detroit will soon see construction activity at the Book Depository building east of the station, along with the new Bagley Parking Hub.
Rich & Associates in Southfield, the world’s oldest firm dedicated solely to parking design, planning, and management, announced today that it led the multi-discipline team that designed the Bagley Parking Hub at Bagley and 14th streets.
Rich & Associates designed the structure and is providing ongoing parking engineering consultation through the construction process. With the design completed, construction of the mobility hub is about to commence and is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Ford announced in November the parking garage and mobility hub will provide 1,250 parking spots for Michigan Central workers as well as serve the community with a pedestrian-oriented streetscape and new public amenities.
The building’s dramatic, irregular shape was designed to maximize sunlight and will offer vistas for walkers and bike riders along a future greenway that will connect the station campus and the surrounding community to the new Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park along the Detroit River being overseen by the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The park will open in the next two years.
The Bagley Parking Hub will enhance street life through exterior artwork, two new public plazas, green spaces, and a tree canopy. Public amenities being explored include free Wi-Fi, outdoor seating, drinking fountains, restrooms, bike storage, and public parking on evenings and weekends.
The tech-enabled environment will offer electric charging, smart parking and payment systems, space utilization sensors, and smart lockers. It will be constructed to high sustainability standards, with a focus on stormwater management, health and wellbeing, and promoting the area’s natural ecology.
A shuttle service to move workers and goods within the mobility innovation district may also support residents living in the area.
“We are proud to be playing such an important role on this pioneering project,” says David Rich, vice president of Rich & Associates. “From day one, Ford challenged our team to create a facility that’s more than just a parking garage. Through their vision, and the expertise of the entire design group, we are creating a mobility hub that will serve as a model for cities and private owners across the globe.”
The parking hub will connect the site buildings and serve as an entry-point to visitors. Other members of the Bagley Parking Hub’s design team include the architectural and planning firm Rossetti in Detroit, Strategic Energy Solutions in Berkley, and Giffels Webster in Detroit.
Michigan Central Station is currently in the middle of phase two of the restoration, the most labor-intensive part of the project focused on fixing the steel structure and repairing eight acres of masonry. Ford is still on track to complete the station by the end of 2022.
Ford’s campus revolves around four buildings: Michigan Central Station; the Book Depository, which sits just east of the station and is being revitalized into a maker space; The Factory, which is home to the company’s autonomous vehicle business unit; and a newly constructed development to the west of the station.
Overall, Ford’s vision includes creating an open platform for innovators, startups, entrepreneurs, and other partners from around the world to develop, test, and launch new mobility solutions on real-world streets, in real-world situations.
