June 1982: Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, Hamtramck Mayor Robert Kozaren, and General Motors Chairman Roger Smith pose before the remains of Chrysler’s former Dodge Main plant at a formal project groundbreaking in May 1981. The feature story opens: “As America, and particularly urban America, struggles to come to terms with the meaning of “deindustrialization,” and “public-private economic cooperation,” the Central Industrial Park Project, which involves the relocation within Detroit of General Motors’ Cadillac Assembly operations into a new three-million-square-foot plant, is an interesting and important prototype.
Central Industrial Park Project in Detroit, now known as the Michigan Central Innovation District, is a 30-acre tech and cultural hub anchored by the restored Michigan Central Station, focused on mobility and urban living, and backed by Ford Motor Co.'s $740 million investment.
