Ford Motor Co. is aiming to "curate" the future of mobility for major cities with its $740 million investment in the city of Detroit.

Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., speaking at the fifth annual Detroit Homecoming event opening night at Little Caesars Arena, said its acquisition of the sweeping 1.2 million-square-foot area surrounding and including the vacant Michigan Central Station will be the home of an entire mobility ecosystem.

"If you look at the total addressable market (of mobility), it's huge," Ford said. "It's not only (automakers) and suppliers, but Uber and Lyft, and scooters and bikes. It's not just ways of moving people, but ways of moving goods, drones, etc. Somebody has to make sense of this all. This needs to be thoughtful. We want to help curate all this. This makes sense for us. This is a need that's unfilled."

The investment, which is spread across five buildings, will sway heavily toward including startups and entrepreneurs in the space, Ford Jr. said on stage with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Crain Communications Inc. President KC Crain.

"We're going to experiment with all kinds of stuff," Ford said. "Look at scooters. We're finding ... it solves a lot of the last mile. Who would have thought a year ago that all these things are going to evolve and develop? Cities are all asking for solutions. They are all overcrowded with traffic. A lot of cities around the world, you simply can't move. They are all desperate for solutions. Detroit is a great place to build that future to experiment."

Ford is hoping the 104-year-old train depot will be the beginning of a mobility corridor spanning Michigan Avenue from Detroit to Ann Arbor, connecting the most tech-forward cities in the region, that would serve as a "talent magnet" for the company, with the depot being the centerpiece.

"We're in a war for talent," Ford said. "We're competing, not just against auto companies and suppliers but tech companies. Some of them have amazing campuses in Silicon Valley. It's a bit of a leap of faith to look at it now and say, 'In four years, this is going to be amazing.' But it is."