Rocks/Boulders protecting 1350 John R in Troy ?

[darwinism]

It looks just like a typical office building on the east-side of the street, between 14 Mile and Maple Road.

Web searches for that address yielded references to GM Onstar.

If you travel that route on your daily commute, or seen it somehow, you will notice the 2 barricades for the only 2 ways to enter and exit the compound. Everywhere else surrounding its periphery is "guarded" by large rocks/boulders.

Does anyone know anything more regarding the reason[[s) behind the secrecy or mystery of such an arrangement ?

[lilpup]

Can't see any barricades or boulders in online photos, but the place is listed for sale - "former call center with furniture and systems in place"

[CLAUDE G]

Yea, I noticed the same thing also. They got 2 automatic gates to provide access on each side of the parking lot, and the rocks seem like they are there to prevent you from driving around the automatic gates.

[OriginalG313]

This is GM Onstar. If I recall, it's the actual call center for this area. The first OnStar call center was in Farmington Hills, MI. Then, the Troy location was built and Farmington Hills was used as a backup location. This was back in the days when EDS had the OnStar account. It has very tight security because of the nature of the business.

[Meddle]

It has very tight security because of the nature of the business.

A telephone call center?

[rjk]

I was at a dog park a few months ago and overheard two people talking about this place.
One of the people sounded pretty confident that it was part of homeland security.
I didn't check his credentials so he could be guessing like anyone else.

[Bigb23]

It has very tight security because of the nature of the business.

A telephone call center?

Yes - one that can unlock and disable vehicles and mobilize emergency services in all of North America.

[OriginalG313]

Yes, the nature of the business. The customers' name, addresses, vehicle information, PINs, etc., would be on the computers at the "call center." And, the OnStar technology.

[JBMcB]

This is GM Onstar.

Are you sure? There was a big OnStar building right off of I-75 in an office park off of the Stevenson near the 14 mile exit. You could clearly see the sign on southbound 75.

[lilpup]

As posted previously the building is currently for sale.

[darwinism]

It's going to be hard to sell a building in this economy, if nobody can even get close enough to view the property.

The rocks/boulders are placed ALL AROUND the building, even on grassy areas that are not driveable.

I've seen call centers that are in operation, for major banks and financial institutions, that aren't protected like that.

Very interesting that a FORMER GM Onstar call center that is ON SALE is being guarded like Fort Knox.

[sirrealone]

I worked in this building around 1997-98. It was known by everybody that worked there as 'MOP' [[Maple Office Park). At the time, half of it was EDS 24x7 call centers supporting various accounts [[non-GM, as they had just been spun off and were aggressively pursuing other business), and the other half was the OnStar call center as described above [[I'm pretty sure EDS managed this as well).

If memory serves, at the time, parking was a bitch as there wasn't enough spots. At the time, the card swiper did allow access to the back part of the lot, but I think only managers and above got access to this part of the lot. The rest of the worker bees had to fight over the spots in the rest of the lot, and if your shift was such that you got there when the lot was full, it could get dicey.

OnStar was definitely a 'big deal' but it's amazing to think of the security differences versus what you think of today as 'secure'. Even though I was on the non-OnStar side, we could still use our badges to get into the OnStar side. We did so regularly because the vending machine in the OnStar kitchen had Wild Cherry Pepsi where ours didn't. One time, a manager came out and chewed us out for being there when we weren't supposed to, so we laid low for a few days, but it wasn't for a few more months that they actually restricted access to only those who worked in that part of the building.

That was a cool place to work. Being all call center, you had a majority of the people that worked there were young [[20's) and single as it was the perfect first-job-out-of-college opportunity. So even though you had the stuffy EDS culture of suits for the men and dresses for the ladies, it was still a pretty 'fun' atmosphere. I did application support on the non-Onstar side, andus 'techies' were on the first floor, so when someone called about a technical or application problem, they got us. But a lot of us would find excuses to go upstairs whenever we could because that's where the people that handled the move-add-change requests were located, and as it so happened, there were a lot more pretty girls in those parts. Every now and then a customer wanting a move-add-change would call us by mistake, and I 'walked up' more than a few mishandled calls in my time

That was my first job out of college [[I started at a different EDS building in 1996 but moved to MOP in 1997). The pay sucked but back then, but a majority of people used EDS to gain experience and it was as solid a company name as you could get to stick on a resume when the time came to go look for more money and the perfect time as the pre-Y2K market was just starting to simmer. It got me a lot of contacts, a good basis of technical knowledge, good interactions and ability to build customer service skills, and was a great stepping stone to my career in IT [[I did leave in 1998 for a 50% salary increase). It's really sad to think that this opportunity isn't there for today's grads here in the USA, as I'm guessing all of those call center jobs are now overseas.

[RedeemerKid]

This is GM Onstar. If I recall, it's the actual call center for this area. The first OnStar call center was in Farmington Hills, MI. Then, the Troy location was built and Farmington Hills was used as a backup location. This was back in the days when EDS had the OnStar account. It has very tight security because of the nature of the business.

OnStar hasn't been in that building for about 5 years. The local OnStar Call Center moved to a GM owned building in/near downtown Pontiac for a while, and then to the Tech Center Campus when the Pontiac building became a candidate for selling off.

GM found themselves over time with a bunch of empty buildings that they owned, while they were locked into leases elsewhere. Triggered a few major relocations.

[RedeemerKid]

Are you sure? There was a big OnStar building right off of I-75 in an office park off of the Stevenson near the 14 mile exit. You could clearly see the sign on southbound 75.

That was the OnStar HQ building [[a mile or so from the local Call Center on John R) up until 2004 when OnStar relocated to the Ren Cen.

[aneverydayjoe]

It used to be OnStar. Now it is a government installation. Have been in it once, you are escorted through, no one talks, no questions. LOTS of Mil. Uniforms. The fire dept lists it as records storage. I don't believe it. My guess is defense tech. All those big rocks are anchored, the gates are designed to "pinch" any vehicle that attempts to go through them. Hardcore security, you can't get close to that building unless they want you too.

[Patrick]

I recall driving by that palce at 2AM soemtimes and the lot would be full and lights bright...

[DLife]

Alien and UFO research facility...I've seen it for myself.

[Danny]

BUMP! I'm moving on to the next comment.

[milt721]

There appears to be a pedestrian bridge that runs from the parking lot of the property in question to the parking lot of the property to the south. It that closed off as well?

[MikeM]

Drove by tonight and it was mostly dark and no cars in the lot.

[2dogs]

Wow, here's an old thread topic.
I actually managed the buildout and move into this office from the FH location. I started in FH for this project. Was at Corporate Dr. before this.

I worked in this building around 1997-98. It was known by everybody that worked there as 'MOP' [[Maple Office Park). At the time, half of it was EDS 24x7 call centers supporting various accounts [[non-GM, as they had just been spun off and were aggressively pursuing other business), and the other half was the OnStar call center as described above [[I'm pretty sure EDS managed this as well).

If memory serves, at the time, parking was a bitch as there wasn't enough spots. At the time, the card swiper did allow access to the back part of the lot, but I think only managers and above got access to this part of the lot. The rest of the worker bees had to fight over the spots in the rest of the lot, and if your shift was such that you got there when the lot was full, it could get dicey.

OnStar was definitely a 'big deal' but it's amazing to think of the security differences versus what you think of today as 'secure'. Even though I was on the non-OnStar side, we could still use our badges to get into the OnStar side. We did so regularly because the vending machine in the OnStar kitchen had Wild Cherry Pepsi where ours didn't. One time, a manager came out and chewed us out for being there when we weren't supposed to, so we laid low for a few days, but it wasn't for a few more months that they actually restricted access to only those who worked in that part of the building.

That was a cool place to work. Being all call center, you had a majority of the people that worked there were young [[20's) and single as it was the perfect first-job-out-of-college opportunity. So even though you had the stuffy EDS culture of suits for the men and dresses for the ladies, it was still a pretty 'fun' atmosphere. I did application support on the non-Onstar side, andus 'techies' were on the first floor, so when someone called about a technical or application problem, they got us. But a lot of us would find excuses to go upstairs whenever we could because that's where the people that handled the move-add-change requests were located, and as it so happened, there were a lot more pretty girls in those parts. Every now and then a customer wanting a move-add-change would call us by mistake, and I 'walked up' more than a few mishandled calls in my time

That was my first job out of college [[I started at a different EDS building in 1996 but moved to MOP in 1997). The pay sucked but back then, but a majority of people used EDS to gain experience and it was as solid a company name as you could get to stick on a resume when the time came to go look for more money and the perfect time as the pre-Y2K market was just starting to simmer. It got me a lot of contacts, a good basis of technical knowledge, good interactions and ability to build customer service skills, and was a great stepping stone to my career in IT [[I did leave in 1998 for a 50% salary increase). It's really sad to think that this opportunity isn't there for today's grads here in the USA, as I'm guessing all of those call center jobs are now overseas.

[kc8nod]

If you have driven by this building and thought that it looks like some kind of fortified government facility, you are correct!
Some creative googling reveals that this building has been occupied by the US Army for several year. Specifically, something called the "Life Cycle Management Command" which is apparently some bureaucratic part of TACOM in Warren, which is not too far away. Try googling different combinations of "TACOM", "LCMC" and "1350 John R" and you'll find all kinds of public documents.

[JBMcB]

Thanks for the update! I always wonder about that building when I drive by it. A few years ago my wife read a novel set in Detroit, that goes into detail about that building when it was the OnStar call center, as the author worked there for a while. If she remembers the title I'll post it.

[jcole]

A friend of mine worked there and it was indeed part of TACOM

[Meddle]

Interesting that in 9 years three people have signed up to post in this thread about this place:



Maybe alien space babies are being raised there?