Train depot progress report: About 60% new windows

Proud of progress at Michigan Central Station, the Moroun organization gave a tour Thursday inside the structure where workers continue to replace more than 1,000 windows broken during years of neglect.

About 600 windows have been installed on the upper floors of the train station near 17th and Michigan, said Ken Carter, a superintendent of the project for the Moroun family's Detroit International Bridge Co. He expects all the windows — nearly 1,100 — to be installed by the end of the year.

For the oft-criticized Moroun organization, putting new windows in the derelict station is meant to show that the organization will play a part in the city's revitalization. Replacing the windows was one requirement in the recent deal with Mayor Mike Duggan to improve Riverside Park by swapping Moroun-owned land there for a parcel the family needs to build a replacement span next to the family's Ambassador Bridge.

At the very least, the train station, although still empty and far from any habitable condition, will at least look more like someone cares.

"We've been in Detroit a long time," Carter said. "We employ a great number of people, and I think it's important that we help redevelop this structure."

Carter said the clean-up and restoration of the century-old landmark station — which became a persistent symbol around the world of Detroit's decline — have cost about $12 million, so far, including restoring electricity to the station and installing a $4-million elevator capable of carrying freight and passengers.

The window project by itself is expected to cost about $3 million.

"This building touches many people," Carter said. "We think it's very important to bring it back."

On Thursday, worker Paul Badger of St. Clair hooked himself to a secure tether as he worked on a ladder in a seventh-floor window opening where he was readying the frame for a new window. A stiff breeze blew in and stirred up dust from the floor.

"You get used to it," Badger said of working in such conditions. "Can't really be afraid of heights."

Opened in 1913, the ornate train station with its massive waiting room and adjacent office tower served as a hub for Detroit travelers for decades. As train service and Detroit's fortunes declined, the station saw less use until the final train left the station in 1988.

Vandals and strippers then turned the station into the city's most notorious eyesore with every window broken. The Moroun family obtained control of the station in the mid-1990s but only in the past few years has there been work to clean it up and ready it for redevelopment, although there is still no new use planned.

Chamberlain Glass & Metal of St. Clair led by owner Gary Chamberlain and his sons, are doing the installation work.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.