A seismic change is coming to the greater Detroit auto scene in the coming months as Ford Motor Co. will move its world headquarters just a few miles to a new 2.1 million-square-foot facility on the historic site of its 1953 Product Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
The new world headquarters will open in November 2025. A grand opening celebration will include a dedication ceremony and tours.
Ground was broken on the new Henry Ford II World Center headquarters building in 2020 and the new complex will be more than twice the size of the current headquarters building, known as Glass House (below), which has been in use for nearly 70 years. The existing HQ is one of the most photographed and familiar corporate HQ buildings in the U.S. The 950,000-square-foot Glass House, was completed in 1956 and features 12 floors housing about 2,000 employees. At the time, Ford said it was one of the nation’s largest office buildings occupied by a single company.
In 2017 LCOC Western Region members joined in a tour of Detroit area landmarks, one of which was the famed Glass House, where members displayed historic Lincolns prior to their attending the Lincoln Motor Car Foundation’s annual Homecoming festivities and car show at Hickory Corners, MI. Photo ops both inside and outside of the famed building were part of the fun.
Our own Jim Powers, former Ford and Lincoln designer, was given a tour of the nearby Product Development Center during the visit, which was razed later to make way for the new HQ complex. When the center was dedicated in 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower joined the celebration live through one of the first-ever uses of closed-circuit television. Some of the most well-known American vehicles were born there, including Lincoln models, the Mustang, Thunderbird and F-Series trucks.
In announcing plans for the new headquarters, Ford spokespeople said, “The future of our industry demands a different kind of space—one that is more connected, more flexible, and built for the speed of a technology- and software-driven company.”
The new facility will place corporate leaders, design teams and engineering within a space designed to encourage collaboration. The facility includes a 160,000-square-foot dining hall and 12 acres of added greenspace. Upon completion, about 14,000 employees will be within a 15-minute walk of the new headquarters.
The construction has directly impacted southern California, as Ford closed its Irvine, CA, Design Center after two decades and transferred most of the employees to Dearborn, with a few moving up the 405 Freeway to Long Beach.
“(The new HQ) a tremendous move and it tells me that Ford understands the culture change needed, not just about the technology, but it’s about the culture and the way that we do business that has to change along with it,” said Jan Griffiths, president and founder of Gravitas Detroit.
The majority of the work will be completed this year, the company said, with construction on the final section to be finished in 2027.
Glass House to be demolished
After workers move out of the Glass House, it will be decommissioned and demolished over the next 18 months, with the site to be repurposed. “We are working with the City of Dearborn on a plan for how the site can best serve our employees and neighbors, and we will have more to share about those plans later,” the company said.
Ford’s current headquarters, located at 1 American Road in Dearborn will be demolished. According to Ford, the company expects to complete its move out of the building in the first half of 2026. Exterior demolition is to begin in 2027.
General Motors also is in the midst of a headquarters move, leaving its iconic home along the Detroit River for a new office building in downtown Detroit.
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Detroit proper, on Mack Avenue.
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Ford will move its world headquarters to a new campus 3 miles away in Dearborn, Michigan
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“Henry Ford was born just a few miles from the headquarters where we sit now. … There have been multiple Ford family members who, as they walk in and they see the blue oval with ‘Ford’ on the side of the building, they’re really walking into their family home,” he said.
Soon, they and thousands of others will walk into a brand-new home.
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