Over the next 10 years, Ford Motor Company will be giving its Dearborn location a facelift.
The company announced Tuesday it will reconstruct over 7.5 million square feet of workspace. The project will consolidate over 70 buildings into two specific campuses – one for products and one to house the world headquarters.
Donna Inch is the chairman and CEO of Ford Land, the company's real estate subsidiary. She said the new facility will keep Ford competitive.
"It is very ambitious, but very much needed and we're taking a very strategic, long-term approach to this," she said.
Dearborn's current facility is over 60 years old and houses 30,000 employees. The new campuses are designed to be more energy efficient, with added green space.
Inch said the new buildings will encourage better collaboration between workers.
"What's good for our employees, and making employees' lives better, we believe will make everybody's lives better," she said.
An article in Crain's Detroit last summer quoting an unnamed real estate source reported that the project will cost around $1 billion. Ford has not confirmed any financial information about the renovations.
The facility will continue work on both products and research. Inch said Ford is exploring mobility technology and autonomous cars.
"What this really did today is say 'We're staying in Dearborn, it's going to be our headquarters, and we are committed to operating in the United States,'" said U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan. "We are competing with California and Texas, in terms of much of this technology. We're showing that we are going to be doing it in Michigan."
