Henry Ford’s 150th birthday will celebrated this year but not at the Fair Lane Estate, his home for three decades. Fair Lane Estate was closed in 2010 to facilitate the transfer of ownership from the University of Michigan to Edsel and Eleanor Ford House. Unfortunately, the estate has remained closed because of a number of legal issues involved with the transfer. Additionally, the building still needs to be renovated, and the renovations have not even started. If the legal issues in this case are settled, then it is likely that the party held to celebrate the transfer will be on or near Ford’s birthday at the end of July. Part of the problem is that there is a number of issues that need to be worked out, such as “issues involving parking, signage, utilities, maintenance costs and other roadblocks.” There have also been a number of changes at Michigan, which has complicated the transfer. Both parties agree that the process has been surprisingly slow.
See John Gallagher, Transfer of Fair Lane Estate Runs Into Delays, Detroit Free Press, Apr. 4, 2013.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
