More than 200 Ford Motor Co. employees and community members gathered at Michigan Central Station on Tuesday to celebrate the arrival of certain Ford teams at their new offices.

The Dearborn-based automaker's Model e (the company’s electric vehicle business unit) and Integrated Services teams moved into floors eight, nine and 10, becoming the second tenant of the station’s tower since it reopened in June.

"Introducing now the teams from Ford and the teams on the cutting edge of the work that you all are doing is just another amazing milestone for Michigan Central, for Ford, for Detroit," Josh Sirefman, CEO of Michigan Central Station, said at the news conference celebrating the move. "It's really an incredible day for all of us."

Marin Gjaja, COO of the Ford Model e team, said the idea for moving into a space like The Station came when Model e was first launched and Ford was looking for a space that reinforced the culture the automaker was trying to create.

"We wanted to be flat," he said. "We wanted to be fast. We wanted to really collaborate intensely."

At the time, Ford hadn't yet bought Michigan Central Station, so those employees working on electric vehicles moved to The Factory on Michigan Avenue, across the street from the old Tiger Stadium site.

"We really wanted to be in a place where we were part of the mission of revitalizing Detroit, but also it was a space that was conducive to what we were trying to do: Big open space, open seating, people collaborating very quickly and very easily," Gjaja said.

More on Ford workers' ties to station: Move-in day at Michigan Central: Ford employees share family links to depot's past

The latest on Michigan Central Station: Michigan Central Station new amenities include guided tours, coffee shop

The team's new space at The Station will help attract and retain talent, Gjaja said.

"We need to attract and retain that talent as much as ever," he said. "The task is harder than it's ever been to think about, 'How do we win as a company? How do we as an industry make this transition to electric vehicles?' It's a great metaphor for what we're trying to do with the company and with the city, is this new space and this new part of the journey, the next chapter."

Peter Stern, president of Ford Integrated Services, said The Station reminds him of Silicon Valley (Stern was previously a vice president at Apple) in terms of bringing together people, startups and established technology companies.

"It's for us to bring together the best people across Ford and a broader ecosystem to create amazing, transformative ideas around mobility," Stern said. "To be able to do that in Detroit and be part of the Detroit renaissance is just such a special privilege."

To have a visible presence of Ford employees in Detroit is "enormous," Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said at the event.

An estimated 1,000 Ford employees will work on-site by the end of the year, including occupancy at the Book Depository Building next door, The Factory, and now The Station.

Detroit Free Press columnist Phoebe Wall Howard contributed to this report.

Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford employees move into new offices at Michigan Central Station