People Mover agency to lead Michigan Central transit hub

The agency that runs the Detroit People Mover is stepping into a much larger role. The Detroit Transportation Corporation will serve as project lead for a new multimodal transit hub planned at Michigan Central in Corktown, according to the agency's own project page.

Under that plan, the DTC will open a public process this summer to select a design team for the hub, formally called the Michigan Central Multimodal Facility. The work to be procured covers preliminary design and engineering, environmental and regulatory review, site circulation, utility coordination, and community engagement. As the lead, the DTC says it will coordinate procurement, design, engineering, the environmental process, and eventually construction.

The hub itself has been in motion since last fall. In an October 2025 memorandum of understanding, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the city of Detroit, and Michigan Central committed about $40 million for the early research and engineering phase, per Michigan Central. That figure breaks down into a $10 million federal RAISE grant awarded to MDOT and roughly $30 million in state funds.

Each partner carries a defined role. MDOT provides oversight, handles environmental clearances, and unlocks the federal money. Michigan Central keeps the design aligned with its Innovation District vision and serves as an adjacent landowner alongside the city. The DTC drives the procurement and the build.

The facility would sit on a parcel inside the 30-acre Michigan Central Innovation District, southwest of the restored depot known as The Station, and would house both passenger rail and intercity bus service. Michigan Central has framed the hub as a regional connector. "This is just another step in positioning Michigan Central as the hub that not only connects people to possibility but drives regional growth," chief executive Josh Sirefman said in the October announcement.

The need is partly about replacing tired infrastructure. MDOT today runs the aging Howard Street bus station, which serves Greyhound, Indian Trails, and Baron's Bus, plus the Amtrak stop in New Center. Both have outlived their useful life and lack the amenities modern travelers expect, according to Michigan Central. The longer-term ambition is to support an extension of the Chicago to Detroit Amtrak Wolverine line toward Windsor and Toronto, tying the corridor to Detroit Metro Airport.

The history on this corner runs deep. The last train left Michigan Central in January 1988, bound for Chicago. At the station's 1940s peak, more than 4,000 passengers passed through daily and thousands more worked in its office tower. The building then sat empty for decades until Ford bought it in 2018 and reopened it in June 2024 after a restoration that topped $900 million.

Final designs, full funding, and a construction timeline still have to be settled as the project moves through its early phase. The summer procurement for a design team is the first concrete step.