As with anything Michigan Central Station-related, the Internet is abuzz with the news that the historic train station will be outfitted with new windows. While it is unclear what the owners of Michigan Central Station ultimately have planned for the building, Chamberlain Glass & Metal, Inc. of St. Clair has announced that they've been hired to produce a new window system for the tower. Over 1,000 window openings will be filled.
According to the company, they've been working with the Maroun family, owners of the famously blighted building, to find a window system that meets the modern needs of a contemporary office while remaining true to the spirit of the historic building.
In June of 2014,
Model D reported that the Marouns pulled $676,000 in city permits for construction work that included, "a 9,000-pound capacity freight elevator inside the old smokestack mechanical shaft and safety improvements such as railings on interior staircases." Though details were murky at the time, Chamberlain reveals that the elevator is being built, at least in part, to facilitate the glass operation.
The company expects elevator construction to finish soon, after which they will begin the task of installing over 1,000 windows. Chamberlain says that it will be "a few more months" before Michigan Central Station is once again fully outfitted with windows.
Michigan Central Station opened in 1913 as the city's main rail depot. Eighteen stories of offices sit atop a Beaux-Arts lobby. The station, closed in 1988, has been open to the elements for years and became blighted as scrappers stripped the building of many of its architectural treasures.
Several plans to redevelop the depot have come and gone since its closure. In 2004, then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced plans to redevelop the train station as the city's police headquarters. Those plans were eventually abandoned. In 2009, the Detroit City Council voted to demolish Michigan Central Station. That plan fell apart due to a lack of funding as well as difficulties stemming from the station's National Register of Historic Places designation.
Source: Chamberlain Glass & Metal, Inc.
Writer: MJ Galbraith
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