Detroit – The Packard plant, one of Detroit's biggest symbols of the disaster, will be completely demolished by the end of the year and the city government hopes to build a new automotive plant on the site, Mayor Mike Duggan said during a Monday news conference.
The city celebrated the start of the third phase of demolition of the huge run-down factory that housed a luxury automaker nearly 70 years ago on Monday afternoon, touting “promises kept.” The city owns 42 hectares of the site after Peruvian developer Fernando Palazuelo failed to comply with a 2022 court order to demolish the dilapidated industrial site and missed other deadlines.
The city will renovate the site over the next two years for a new automobile factory, the mayor said. The Detroit Department of Commerce will put out requests for proposals for land development plans in the next two months, but is hoping for a new auto supplier, Duggan said.
“This project is monumental to the city's mission to … eradicate the disease,” said LaJuan Counts, director of the Detroit Construction and Demolition Department. “It symbolizes Detroit’s resilience and commitment to revitalization. As we look forward to a new era for this site, we honor the history of the old Packard plant while embracing future opportunities for our city.”
Detroit-based construction company Adamo Group began demolition of the 200,000-square-foot property at 5409 Concord Street in the southern portion of the plant. This portion of the demolition work is expected to take five months and cost $1.2 million.
Three other parts of the facility would have to be dismantled, Counts said. In total, about $26 million in American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief funds will be used to demolish the facility.
New phase of demolition at the Packard plant
Crews will begin demolishing the buildings at 5409 Concord Street in the southern portion of the Packard plant.
The Packard plant spanned 3.5 million square feet on Detroit's east side and was last in operation in 1956. By the late 1990s, dozens of smaller companies were working in parts of the plant.
“Sixty-eight years ago, Packard Motors ceased operations at this plant, and for 68 years the ruins of this building were a drag on Detroit's recovery,” Duggan said. “Thanks to Joe Biden and the rescue plan, Detroit has resources we never had, and everything will collapse in 2024.”
Across Grand Boulevard, environmental protection work has already begun and $12 million worth of demolition work will take place later this year.
The city has been trying to demolish the Packard plant for years. Emergency demolition of a portion of the facility at 6199 Concord began in September 2022. In December 2022, demolition of Packard's next major section began at the south end of 1539 E. Grand Boulevard. The northern portion of 1539 E. Grand Boulevard is secured for redevelopment to honor the plant's history, city officials said.
The Packard parcel at 1539 E. Grand Boulevard was the last remaining city-owned portion of the plant until 2022, when 33 additional parcels previously owned by Palazuelo's Art Express were converted to city ownership. The vacant property was seized for tax purposes because of $1.5 million in unpaid taxes, water drainage costs and traffic tickets.
After small businesses abandoned part of the plant in the late 1990s, the city foreclosed on the property and the plant began to be torn apart by wreckers and vandals.
Palazuelo paid $405,000 for the property at Wayne County's foreclosure auction in 2013. He tried to find investors to back a $350 million mixed-use project with industrial, office, retail and cultural elements, but was unsuccessful. In 2021, the city sued Palazuelo and Arte Express to have the abandoned work declared a public nuisance and demolished.
“But it’s not enough to knock things down,” Duggan said Monday. “Our economics department will submit proposals for a new automotive supplier for this location in the next two months.”
The Packard site is just a few meters from General Motors Co.'s Factory Zero. Duggan pointed to the redevelopment of the Cadillac Stamping on Conner and the old AMC headquarters in Plymouth as examples of what could come from this.
“We will be transforming it from an abandoned building into a vibrant employment center over the next two years,” Duggan said. “The only part of it we're preserving is on Grand Boulevard because that work represents a big part of Detroit's history. … There will be a small portion of the work on each side of Grand Boulevard that will be included in each developer's proposal. “So we can recognize the history while shaping the future.”
So far, no one has expressed interest in the location, the mayor said.
“There is significant demand at this location for both the Jeep factories and GM Factory Zero. This is a prime location,” Duggan said. “We will begin accepting tenders this year … and hope to win the contract when the final walls come down.”
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield said she remembered nine years ago when there was a proposal for the site.
“Unfortunately that didn’t work out. But we haven’t given up and I’m excited about the future of this location,” said Sheffield. “We are committed to eliminating blighted eyesores and creating productive spaces.”
The site is in the Gratiot Town Kettering area of the city, which consists of seven neighborhoods that are excited about the development, said Joshua Roberson, neighborhood manager for District 5.
“We have hope,” said Valeria Berry, a community member invited by the city to speak. “I hope to see a community garden, a playground for the children and a community building to bring us together again.”
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