Roosevelt Park reopens at Michigan Central

After a $6 million renovation, city, state, and federal officials gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the reopening of Roosevelt Park in front of Michigan Central.

The road that once divided the park is gone, and the unified park now has pathways, benches, open spaces, landscaping, swings, and a large signed entry on Michigan Avenue. 

A family and neighborhood celebration was planned for the park on Wednesday, but unsafe air quality led officials to postpone that event. Amid the smokey haze in the city, you could see old and new around the station. In the distance, the Ambassador Bridge and St. Anne's Church, with the Brooke on Bagley, a new mixed-use construction, just beyond the train station.

The renovation started last year, and was funded in large part from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Mayor Mike Duggan, Senator Debbie Stabenow, and others were joined by President Biden advisor (and Michigan native) Gene Sperling for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the park. 

The now 13-acre park was once a gateway for visitors coming in on the trains from Michigan Central Station. The park will now not only serve the surrounding neighborhoods, but it will also be an amenity for Ford's transformation of Michigan Central Station. 

Roosevelt Park is the latest in a series of improvements around Michigan Central. Last month, the Southwest Greenway opened, from Bagley across the street to what will be the Ralph C. Wilson Park along the Riverfront. Earlier this spring, the Book Depository opened as a hub for tech and mobility start-ups. 

With these improvements around the train station, one couldn't help but notice the empty CPA Building across the street, which has been sitting vacant for years. The boarded-up windows would have a front-row seat to the transformation across the street. The last news we've heard on the CPA and its surrounding property was an RFP process earlier this year. Across 14th, a For Sale sign is still up on the Roosevelt Hotel.