People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, perhaps. But that isn’t stopping Ford Motor Co. as it prepares to demolish the building, known as “Glass House,” that’s served as its headquarters for the last 70 years.
The automaker plans to move just a mile or so away to a new building located in its sprawling product development complex, a move it says is “bringing thousands of our engineering, design, and technology team members together in one collaborative space.”
Why it’s Moving
Ford’s decision to relocate its world headquarters comes at a time when the automaker has ended its COVID-era work-from-home policy. Employees are now expected to report into their offices at least four days a week. But, with all changes that are underway in the auto industry, the old Glass House HQ is running out of space.
The new facility – originally intended just to be part of product development operations – is twice as large, at 2.1 million square feet. More importantly, the automaker explained, it’s located smack in the middle of the sprawling Ford Research and Engineering Center. Originally opened in 1953 – two years before Glass House was completed – that’s the automaker’s primary product development center. It’s been undergoing a nearly decade-long, multi-billion-dollar makeover.
“When the (new HQ) building is complete, 14,000 employees will be within a 15-minute walk, enabling collaboration in practice and proximity,” Ford said in a letter sent to its employees on Monday morning.
Related: Ford CEO: VW Alliance Saves Billions, Not Just Badges
A Collaborative Space
Dubbed “The Hub,” the new headquarters building is only four stories tall and, compared to the 12-story Glass House, will be easier to move around in, Ford planners claim. There will be “three main types of spaces: Workplace, Amenities, and Unique Programming (Design Studios, Showroom, Fabrication Shops, and Garages) to support different working styles,” Ford noted, adding that the Hub also will bring together:
- Six Design Studios (which will) allow for confidential reviews in indoor and outdoor space;
- Design Showroom enables Ford to conduct a full product review in one unified space for the first time, featuring 10 turntables and state-of-the-art lighting, a zero-degree pitched floor extending out to the courtyard review space, and a 64-foot micro-LED screen for comparing digital, full-size vehicles;
- Large event spaces for hundreds of employees with state-of-the-art technology to accommodate needs in-house, as well as 303 tech-enabled meeting rooms;
- 26 vehicle turntables throughout for product display and review.
One key benefit: senior officials, like CEO Jim Farley, will simply be able to stroll down from their office to check out new vehicle designs, rather than having to drive over from the old HQ – a particular hassle during Michigan’s long winters.
What Happens to Glass House?
When it opened in 1956, Ford’s current HQ was considered an engineering marvel, and one of the first large office buildings in the U.S. devoted to a single company.
Ford plans to complete the move to The Hub by mid-2026 and will then “sustainably decommission” the building. It then plans to demolish it, a process it expects to take “roughly 18 months.”
It is working up plans for what to do next with the property and could turn it into park space or some other way it “can be repurposed as an asset to our local community.”
Ford’s not the only one moving
The move will come at a time of extensive change in the auto industry. Ford itself is exploring those changes in a new, global marketing campaign launching this month.
Even as Ford begins the challenging process of moving headquarters it’s cross-town rival General Motors is wrapping up its own move.
General Motors’s senior management and many other employees have been working out of the Detroit Renaissance Center since 1996 – ironically, a complex originally backed by the late Ford Chairman Henry Ford II as a way to help revive the long-struggling Motor City.
In recent years, many GM HQ operations have been moved to the company’s suburban technical center and proving grounds, leaving the “RenCen” seriously underutilized. The automaker is now in the midst of moving to a newer, smaller downtown operation about a mile away. The transition will be completed by early 2026. For its part, GM is looking for possible uses for the Renaissance Center and one proposal would tear down several of the current towers to create more open access to the adjacent Detroit River.
