Work complete on Dearborn Town Center exterior

Thursday, June 24, 2010 | Source: metromode

The walls for the Dearborn Town Center are up, the parking garage is up, and work continues on the interior to ready it for an end-of-the-year opening.

The 162,000-square-foot building will offer a mix of office and retail space, the vast majority of which will be occupied by 500 workers from Oakwood Healthcare System and Midwest Health Services. Two hundred of those employees will be new.

Progress has continued to the point that the project looks finished from the outside, says Barry Murray, economic and community development director for the city of Dearborn. "Both the building and the parking deck are up, and the bridge between them is up," he says. "All the exterior finishes are close to being complete."

Murray's recent tour revealed the medical suites to be in various stages of completion: Some stud walls were bare, some had drywall, and some rooms have been painted. The timeline still calls for the project to be finished in December or January.

The Dearborn Town Center replaces the recently demolished Montgomery Ward department store. Montgomery Ward opened the store in 1937, expanding it to 93,000 square feet. It went belly-up in 2001 and had been vacant until its demolition.

The brick and stone facade and glass gives the new structure a look that's not overpowering, in Murray's opinion. "I think it blends well with city hall and other buildings in the areas," he says. "I think it's a very important architectural design, and for an important corner."

Murray also appreciates the building of a 530-car public parking garage, which is a more efficient use of space than surface parking. "That's really one piece of the puzzle, trying to create an urban environment that people will come out and enjoy," he says.

Source: Barry Murray, economic and community development director for the city of Dearborn
Writer: Kristin Lukowski