Michigan Central Station on May 13, 2024 (Amber Ainsworth/FOX 2)
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Minutes before tickets were set to become available for Michigan Central Station's opening concert and tours, the website crashed.
Tickets were slated to be available at noon Tuesday. However, the website quickly became overloaded and gave site visitors an error message.
"We appreciate the community’s incredible excitement to take part in the Michigan Central OPEN celebration, however, the demand for tickets exceeded even our highest expectations and stress tests for website capacity. For that reason, and to ensure fairness for all, we immediately paused ticketing for both the opening concert and the open house. We will set a new date for ticket availability and open registration again at that time. We sincerely apologize," Michigan Central said in a statement.
Registration will reopen on Wednesday at 9 a.m., according to Michigan Central.
Michigan Central Station will open next month with a concert on June 6, followed by 10 days of tours of the former train depot. The concert and tours will both be free, but attendees must register in advance.
Tickets to the concert will be available here, while the open house tickets will be available here.
Ford Motor Co. purchased Michigan Central in 2018 and began an overhaul of the building that had been gutted by vandals and severely damaged by the elements after it closed in 1988.
MCS served as a hub for train travel from 1913 until it closed. The renovation process included cleaning up the mess from the three decades the building was empty, as well as restoring the building to reflect what it looked like when it was a bustling train depot. This included using old photos and 3D printing to create what couldn't be salvaged.
Michigan Central's future won't include trains, but it will still be transportation focused; the building will house Ford's autonomous vehicle teams, while the main area will be open to the public.
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