Michigan Central’s first retail tenant is Yellow Light Coffee

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Stephanie Rhoades Hume / Michigan Central

Yellow Light Coffee & Donuts is set to open inside Michigan Central this fall.

The first retail tenant of Detroit’s recently rehabilitated former train station has been announced.

Yellow Light Coffee & Donuts is set to open inside Michigan Central this fall. It’ll be its first food-and-beverage tenant since the station closed in 1988.

The locally owned coffee shop opened its first location on Detroit’s east side in 2020. It shares the same owners as popular city restaurants Green Dot Stables and Johnny Noodle King.

“Offering our in-house roasted coffee, scratch-made doughnuts and biscuit sandwiches to Corktown and Southwest is beyond exciting for our growth in Detroit,” co-owner Christine Driscoll said in a statement. “We’re also humbled that we will be part of this newest chapter in The Station’s history starting this fall.”

The coffee shop is now hiring for its Michigan Central location.

Michigan Central also announced a partnership with Detroit History Tours to offer guided tours of the station, which was rehabilitated by Ford Motor Co. over the course of six years for nearly $1 billion. The guided tours will highlight stories about the building’s restoration and also show guests areas not accessible to the general public.

“Detroit History Tours is honored to be powering tours of The Station,” said owner Bailey Sisoy-Moore. “From The Station’s legendary past to its exciting future, we are excited to share this landmark’s story with the world.”

More information is available at michigancentral.com/visit.

Since reopening in June with a star-studded televised concert, Michigan Central says it has welcomed 167,000 visitors curious to see the historic building, which first opened in 1913 and was once one of the most most grand train stations in the U.S.

Michigan Central is expected to announce additional retail tenants in the coming months, and Ford Motor Co. says it will begin moving its workers into three floors of the building this fall.