Dive Brief:
- Ford Motor Co. is moving to a new headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, and will vacate and demolish its iconic “Glass House” office that has served as its global headquarters since 1956, the company announced in a press release and a letter sent to employees on Monday.
- The new campus is roughly double the size of the automaker’s current headquarters and can house up to 4,000 employees, according to Ford, which says a total of 14,000 employees are within a 15-minute walk of the new space.
- The majority of construction on the new Ford campus is expected to be completed this year and it will officially open to employees and the public in November. The construction on the final section of its new headquarters will be complete in 2027.
Dive Insight:
Ford says its transition to a software-driven company requires a different kind of workspace that’s more flexible and supports a higher level of collaboration among its teams. The automaker says it is committed to providing employees with world-class workspaces and modern technology as it executes its transformation plan.
The new headquarters has 2.1 million square feet of office space, compared to the 950,000 square feet footprint of the Glass House building. It will also house a 160,000-square-foot food hall featuring a rotating menu, as well as 12 acres of outdoor green space.
The official name for the new building is “Ford World Headquarters.” Ford’s other Dearborn campus will be renamed the “Henry Ford II World Center”, which is currently associated with the old Glass House office. The new Ford World Headquarters is located on the site of the former Ford Product Development Center, which opened in 1953.
“Today marks another important chapter in our company's history,” Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley said in a letter to employees announcing the move. “We are proud to announce a new Ford World Headquarters will be at the heart of our upgraded and reimagined Dearborn product development campus, the new Henry Ford II World Center.”
Ford’s former headquarters will be "sustainably decommissioned” and demolished, which is expected to take 18 months to complete, according to the release. The company will entirely vacate the old building in the first half of 2026, but will retain ownership of the property. When it opened in 1956, the Glass House was one of the largest office buildings in the U.S. occupied by a single company, according to Ford.
But Ford plans to repurpose the former Glass House site and is working with the city of Dearborn on a development plan that can best serve local residents and employees.
