  Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1030 Registered: 06-2004 |
Ford-UAW center to leave Detroit Web-posted Dec 20, 2006 Riverfront site of training program gives way to Dearborn By JOSEPH SZCZESNY Press Automotive Editor http://www.theoaklandpress.com /stories/122006/bus_2006122027 .shtml | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 130 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hopefully the UAW itself will also leave. For good. | ||
Ribalda Member Username: Ribalda Post Number: 20 Registered: 12-2006 |
Maybe next time the people of Detroit will vote in some people who know how to communicate with people other than their friends. Ribalda | ||
Gambling_man Member Username: Gambling_man Post Number: 912 Registered: 11-2003 |
Ribalda, are you taking your medication today? | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 7229 Registered: 10-2003 |
If only there were some nearby facility that wanted to expand into that space... | ||
Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 35 Registered: 10-2005 |
Too bad it will probably sit empty for the next 10-15 years while the various city and regional entities argue about how to pay for an expansion. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 384 Registered: 01-2006 |
Ford has a long tradition of building something nice and then schitting on it later: Model T factory UAW Facility Ford Field (at least the execs who "do business" there) | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2267 Registered: 02-2005 |
Screw Ford and the UAW. Might as well tear down this place and the Ford Auditorium as part of the impending makeover of the Port/Hart Plaza/Cobo. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is Ford Field the last remaining item in the city with the Ford name on it? | ||
Esp Member Username: Esp Post Number: 15 Registered: 09-2005 |
Wow ... I'm getting old enough now where buildings I used to worked at in Detroit are being abandoned! | ||
Tkelly1986 Member Username: Tkelly1986 Post Number: 199 Registered: 01-2004 |
picture of the building for us our of towners? | ||
Crew Member Username: Crew Post Number: 1096 Registered: 02-2004 |
Mackinaw OK. You're wrong. A certain freeway comes to mind. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2269 Registered: 02-2005 |
damn. freeway must = investment by a major company. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4346 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ford Auditorium. Ford Building (different family) Ford Freeway | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 3407 Registered: 10-2003 |
Its funny but if you ask me it seems that Ford has a history of abandoning the city... | ||
Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 5481 Registered: 09-2005 |
Yeah post a picture - I wanna see if there's any copper in that building  Folks, people die, companies change, etc. Life happens. Every single person responsible for the things you mention above has passed from this life and probably didn't leave in their will the words "Whatever happens, keep putting money into Detroit." Long ago Ford moved most of its operations into Dearborn but continued to "give back" to Detroit. Step back and take a look at the 2 cities - where would you invest further money for the workforce based on location/convenience? Ford benefitted from Detroit, but gave back millions (perhaps billions) that they could have invested/donated elsewhere. Perhaps you ought to take a look at what the far left wing Ford Foundation (now disconnected from FoMoCo) is doing with its money these days - they have money to give away and if they agree with you, Detroit would be a prime place to send it. Lots of folks/cities are vying for both FoMoCo and Ford Foundation $$ and it takes far more than whining to get it. If you expect a positive response from either, you'll have to work hard for it. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3271 Registered: 08-2004 |
Typical of Ford... which is still Wayne County's largest employer, but doesn't even make it to the TOP 30 EMPLOYERS IN DETROIT in Crain's annual list. These could actually be the last Ford employees in Detroit, since to make it to the Crain's list, they would have to have at least 300 employees in the big D. Previously they were on Crain's list, until they vacated their tower in RenCen for Dearborn (when GM took over). I bet that Detroit booster (and RenCen creator) Henry Ford II is turning in his grave right about now.... | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1483 Registered: 11-2003 |
So, does anyone actually think this is bad news? Seems like a smart move for Ford, and at worst, it's a neutral outcome for the city, since it may open up opportunities to do something else with this building and its prime location. (It's not a bad looking building, though.) | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3273 Registered: 08-2004 |
And what would that be... tear it down? Take a page from Ilitch and turn it into a decorative sidewalk? Rent it out to someone from a one of the other office towers downtown, thus further emptying another downtown tower? It's hardly good news!  | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2270 Registered: 02-2005 |
Gistok, there are definitly no more manufacturing Ford jobs in Detroit (haven't been for a while). I remember about a year ago having a Ford Auditorium "tear that schitt down" conversation and people were saying that it can't happen because the Fords would get pissed off and never support the city again. Well, what are they supporting now? There may be some shit left with their name on it, but I don't see the $ and I don't see the jobs. So screw the Fords. | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 7232 Registered: 10-2003 |
Karl, you need to make the distinction between the Ford Family, which has been very good to Detroit, and Ford Motor Company - an outstanding corporate citizen until the death of Henry Ford II. They're still decent, like Comerica, etc., but no longer something special. You're right that nothing stays the same, but it's okay for us to mourn the loss. Also, the Ford Foundation doesn't do squat for Detroit. The Attorney General is investigating them for possible violation of its own charter by being so stingy when it comes to contributions to Michigan. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 157 Registered: 10-2006 |
What was this Ford UAW building on the riverfront originally built for in the 1950s? The article said that the city of detroit owns the building... | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3274 Registered: 08-2004 |
It was formerly the Veterans Memorial Building. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 158 Registered: 10-2006 |
Like the G.A.R. building, but for the 1950s? | ||
Southen Member Username: Southen Post Number: 51 Registered: 08-2006 |
UAW building is very nice and is integrated well into Hart Plaza. I cant imagine that it would stay unoccupied for very long considering its location and condition. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3275 Registered: 08-2004 |
I just hope that with a potential expansion of Cobo looking to expand eastward (Cobo Arena), that they don't view this as an opportunity to expand even farther east. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 161 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for cobo to front hart plaza. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 438 Registered: 08-2006 |
Reading the article it sounds like a smart decision, and I don't give the automotives much credit for being bright. Rather then spend money developing a River Front property for an office that does not need to be there, they are utilizing existing land and buildings in Dearborn. The river front should be reserved for community things Parks, and community serving businesses, restaurants, hotels, lofts. Not office buildings. The river front should be zoned that way to keep it from getting clogged with buildings that don't belong there. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3276 Registered: 08-2004 |
It's not a matter of "fronting" Hart Plaza... the Ford/UAW Building is "in" by Hart Plaza. So any expansion there would gobble up part of Hart Plaza. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4350 Registered: 10-2003 |
Should we lobby to tear down the GM headquarters to establish a riverside fishing community? | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 7233 Registered: 10-2003 |
 | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 623 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ford Auditorium is vacant on one end of Hart Plaza and the Ford UAW building is vacant at the other end. The article below gives me the impression that the city is developing plans to renovate it. Perhaps, the renovations will include these two properties. Perhaps, the Ford family will make a donation to help fund the renovations. "Roehling noted that the city has been building its long-awaited RiverWalk promenade this year, and there have been discussions for a renovation of Hart Plaza. Any idea for a Cobo-RenCen link ought to fit into those overall plans, he said." http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20061206/BUS INESS04/612060312 | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 439 Registered: 08-2006 |
------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------- quote: Should we lobby to tear down the GM headquarters to establish a riverside fishing community? ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------- Sure! GM is planning on relocating to Beijing soon anyways. | ||
Jams Member Username: Jams Post Number: 4351 Registered: 10-2003 |
What a perfect place to establish a fishmarket, possibly a place to trade furs, and maybe sell trees felled for lumber. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 582 Registered: 04-2006 |
I don't understand why the UAW needs separate but equal training centers for each of the big three. The UAW is now down to 1/3 of what is was 15 years ago; maybe they should just combine all training to happen at their new facility in rivertown? it would certainly reduce redundancy in operating costs. I should ad that Ford Motor Company employs a lot of my neighbors (in Warrendale Neighborhood), and the Ford family has contributed a sizable contribution to Downtown's come-back by moving Ford Field downtown and hosting the super bowl. (Message edited by Detroitplanner on December 20, 2006) | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1875 Registered: 11-2004 |
Hey, way to keep an eye on the big picture folks. Ford may not be one of Detroit's biggest employers but it is one of the region's, so let's definitely hate them for moving out of a perfectly viable downtown building instead of applauding them for making necessary cost cutbacks to adapt into a company for the 21st century. And yeah, the Fords don't do a damn thing!!! Oh wait, except they did move the Lions downtown (god bless their li'l losing hearts). Oh yeah, did I read something about Josephine Ford giving a shitload of cash to CCS to revamp their John R frontage and build a sculpture garden? Um, and then when she died she gave like $100 gajillion dollars to CCS and the DIA in art and cash? Hmmm, what else. Bill Ford just signed on to head the Detroit Renaissance executive committee ... and then there's that other new coalition with some Ford or another involved. Remarkably, without knowing the name I can't find it on google or on this site. Anyway, my point you need to see the forest for the trees. This myopia is seriously, seriously ridiculous. And I'd say some of you should know better, but of course that's obviously not the case. (Message edited by dialh4hipster on December 20, 2006) | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 1990 Registered: 06-2004 |
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Karl Member Username: Karl Post Number: 5487 Registered: 09-2005 |
Thank you, Dial - and hopefully, someone, somewhere is saying something positive about the Fords besides the very few on these threads. They can read too, and if I were them and read just the drivel, I'd head farther away from whiners, not closer. | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 639 Registered: 02-2004 |
My thoughts exactly.. It's a beautiful building, and one of the best locations in the city, but if they're bitching over rent, let 'em leave. More expansion for us all! | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3278 Registered: 08-2004 |
Well Dialh, before you get to far up on your high horse... maybe you can point out where on this thread ANYONE said anything suggesting that FORD FAMILY doesn't care about Detroit? Since you're talking about "eye troubles", maybe you can you point to a single post to substantiate your argument? The only mention I see is several folks talking about "our beloved" Henry Ford II. BUT, the FORD MOTOR COMPANY is another matter altogether. Even in the late 1990's (under Jacques Nasser) when they were AWASH IN BILLIONS in Cash, they decided to move their 1,700+ employees out of downtown to Dearborn. This counteracted what Henry Ford II spent years doing... namely putting a Ford Company presence INTO Detroit. It is funny now that you mention it, how the family does so much for Detroit, whereas the company (aside from giving some money for good causes)... ceases to exist in the city that they were founded in. Maybe some of you folks (Karl you too!) better go back and reread the thread... You're seeing things that just aren't there!! (Message edited by Gistok on December 20, 2006) | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1876 Registered: 11-2004 |
Gistok, don't try to weasel out of the criticism by mincing words. I covered criticism of Ford the brand, both company and family. And this site could stand quite a bit more of this lecturing. People here need to think a little more critically before posting the first thing that pops into their heads. You and your slippery slope arguments don't help matters. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3279 Registered: 08-2004 |
FORD MOTOR COMPANY... NOT EQUAL TO... FORD FAMILY It's just simple math! | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 11033 Registered: 10-2003 |
Yes, because God forbid anybody consider the possibility that the building may need to be expanded yet again in the future. No sense in planning ahead, let's insure that Cobo is land locked for years to come, so in another 15-20 years they'll have to build a brand new, bigger, $2 billion hall to meet the demand. I say tear that schitt down, expand all the way to Hart Plaza, and be done with it. | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 1877 Registered: 11-2004 |
Get a life. (Message edited by dialh4hipster on December 20, 2006) | ||
Track75 Member Username: Track75 Post Number: 2466 Registered: 10-2003 |
Absolutely, Dialh. How do folks overlook the fact that FoMoCo's share has declined almost ten points in ten years and that they've had to put the company's assets up as security to obtain a "last chance" loan? Never mind where their facilities are located, this company has put billions of dollars every year into the pockets of its employees and retirees in our area. An awful lot of Detroiters rely on a successful FoMoCo for their livlihoods. A failed company would hit Detroit hard. Yet while they're fighting for their very existence, the myopic only seem to acknowledge FoMoCo's recent real estate decisions. As if that's a real priority for Ford management right now. Rediculous. | ||
Southen Member Username: Southen Post Number: 52 Registered: 08-2006 |
Anyone familiar with the interior of the building? Perhaps if the Cobo expansion is to go through and Cobo Hall gets demolished the UAW building can be included in the expansion and used for banquet halls etc. Im not sure how feasible that might be though. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3284 Registered: 08-2004 |
Supersport, I don't think going that far east is the way to go. ("Go west young man!") Based on Itsjeff's aerial view it would gobble up nearly 1/2 of Hart Plaza. I could see some prestigious downtown building owners, such as 150 W. Jefferson, getting very upset about blocking part of their view of the waterfront. Plus it might not be politically possible (remember what became of architect Caesar Pelli's Comerica Tower design for the Ford Auditorium site?). But you raise the valid point of expansion now and in the future. I don't blame L. Brooks Patterson for scoffing at pay Cobo taxes until 2035... especially when in another 10 years we're going to be back in the position we are today... namely "we need another expansion". | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 11034 Registered: 10-2003 |
Gistok, Are we looking at the same map? Here, I highlighted Hart Plaza for you, and split it in half. What part of this building not being within Hart Plaza don't you understand?  | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4943 Registered: 10-2003 |
It is part of Civic Center, and many could argue part of Hart Plaza, which isn't just the concrete promenade, but all of the public space in the Civic Center. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3292 Registered: 08-2004 |
Look you're talking HART PLAZA (although you missed some spots...) and I'm talking about the entire Civic Center Plaza, not just the paved areas. Apples and oranges! I don't think most people care where the exact precise boundaries are for Hart Plaza... it'll take up Civic Center land. And that will make some people upset. And I'll bet the 150 West Jefferson folks would be mighty unhappy! Don't you remember the public outcry with the Comerica Tower circa 13 years ago? | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 11037 Registered: 10-2003 |
They're in the midst of building a 3 mile river walk which will include a state park encompassing something like 40 acres. In addition, at the end we have Belle Isle which at 1,000 acres is one of the largest urban parks in the country. So I'd gladly give up an acre or two of that concrete monstrosity called Hart Plaza, Civic Centre, or whatever you wanna call it. It's a place that never has more than a dozen people there at a time other than for festivals, half of that dozen are usually homeless. Not to mention, the areas that I assume you feel would be lost never sees anybody using them aside from kids smoking pot during the festivals and people taking a piss behind the cover of the pine trees. The area that would be lost is hardly of much use as it is. | ||
Futurecity Member Username: Futurecity Post Number: 407 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ford Motor Company is creating quite the push for Detroit abandonment. First last Friday's closure of 7 floors of Comerica Tower by Ford's FORCED move of ad agency J Walter Thompson to a friggin' shit-pile spec office building in the burbs, now the abandonment of the Ford-UAW Building. Buying a new car? Show Ford the same loyalty they are showin' the D. Say F$@K No to Ford. | ||
Ramcharger Member Username: Ramcharger Post Number: 177 Registered: 05-2006 |
Here’s a novel idea; how about we use the building to house the offices of Federal, State and local veteran’s affairs organizations. It’s not like we don’t have a lot of veterans, especially disabled ones. And thanks to “W” there’s going to be a whole lot more real soon. | ||
True_blue Member Username: True_blue Post Number: 41 Registered: 12-2003 |
Henry Ford Hospital | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3294 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thanks Futurecity... that just adds fuel to the fire. It's kinda funny how Ford lured the AAA headquarters out of downtown in 1972 (United Artists Building and the AAA Building still standing on the Statler block) to a site along the Southfield Fwy in Dearborn's Fairlane. I wonder if Henry Ford II (still the chairman of the company at the time) felt guilty about that one, and was the impetus for the RenCen the following year (1973)? | ||
Titancub Member Username: Titancub Post Number: 24 Registered: 08-2006 |
Ford and supporting companies employ tens of thousands of people in the region and has been around for 100+ years but they move some office space and apparently everyone wants to condemn them to he!!. Comical. So should people buy Chrysler cars? (moved to Aub Hills) Or how about any of the foreign nameplates? (no sizable employment in the city). GMAC is in the suburbs, so damn GM then. What actual non-auto companies out there is it ok to support that has always and forever committed every possible resource to the city? | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3303 Registered: 08-2004 |
Titanclub, I don't condone a boycott of their products... after all Ford needs all the help they can get... But they moved EVERY LAST FORD EMPLOYEE OUT OF DETROIT... most of it was done when they were awash in cash back in the 1990's (1700 moved out of the RenCen to Dearborn). So after a century of having a presence in Detroit they are now gone. You may find that comical, but I find that sad. (Message edited by Gistok on December 21, 2006) |
