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Ford is moving its headquarters (HQ) for the first time in seven decades. The company’s current headquarters, colloquially called “The Glass House,” opened in 1956. The carmaker is relocating to a newly constructed building 3 miles away in its longtime home of 1 American Road in Dearborn, Michigan, in November.
The new 2.1-million-square-foot structure will formally be called “Ford World Headquarters” when it opens in November. It is part of a larger campus that will take the name of the current HQ: Henry Ford II World Center. Henry Ford II was the grandson of company founder Henry Ford and the uncle of Bill Ford, the automaker’s current executive chairman.
“When we move to the new headquarters, the 1 American Road address will move with it, because we’re going to continue to develop products for the next century,” says Ted Ryan, Ford’s heritage and brand manager.
The new HQ is 5–10 minutes away and is designed to enhance collaboration and innovation by co-locating corporate leadership with design and engineering teams. It places 14,000 employees within a 15-minute walk of the main building. It will feature six design studios, a 160,000-square-foot food hall accessible to all Ford employees, wellness rooms, mothers’ rooms and 300-plus tech-enabled meeting rooms.
Ford’s new home base is situated on the site of the former Product Development Center. When it 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 the Mustang, Thunderbird and F-Series trucks. “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,” Ryan says.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.