(rshsdepot) Detroit, MI

["James Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

rshsdepot
-From the Detroit News...

03/01/01

Old train station may get new life
Developer sees Detroit depot as customs center
The owner of the Michigan Central Depot says he wants to revive the
88-year-old station.

By Darren A. Nichols, and Cameron McWhirter / The Detroit News

    DETROIT -- The owner of Detroit's most glaring eyesore -- the old
central train station -- is working on plans to restore it.
   The move comes as the Detroit City Council prepares to consider
demolishing the gutted building, which towers 18 stories over the old Tiger
Stadium neighborhood. Last fall, the council had granted a six-month
reprieve.
   Now, Manuel Maroun, the owner of the Michigan Central Depot and the
Ambassador Bridge, is set to present a redevelopment plan to the council
March 15. His group has scheduled a meeting for 4 p.m. today at El Zocalo
Restaurant, where neighbors can share ideas.
   Moroun, who also owns a portion of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, has been
working with an architectural firm to develop his restoration plans for the
depot. Although no plan has been completed, ideas include turning the
structure into a U.S. Customs Trade Center with a cultural arts area.
   Built in 1913, the station was designed by the same architects who built
New York's Grand Central Terminal. With the decline of Corktown and its
distance from downtown, the station fell into disuse, and Amtrak made its
last stop there in January 1988.
   "It is time. The station has waited long enough," said Katherine
Clarkson, executive director of Preservation Wayne. "It would be such a
shame to lose that particularly wonderful space."

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