For Sale: One Packard Plant

[Lowell]

For possibly, but not likely, $21,500.

Movement on Detroit's most fabulous ruin's future, the Packard Plant, appears to finally have been set in motion after it was successfully foreclosed in March according to this Crain's Detroit Business article.

The abandoned factory that once produced Packard automobiles will be among the properties for sale this September at the Wayne County auction of properties foreclosed on because of property tax delinquency.

The starting price for bidding will be about $975,000, the sum of the taxes owed on 43 parcels that make up most of the sprawling Packard plant property, county officials said. Another four parcels on the fringes of the property belong to the city of Detroit and will not be included in the auction.

The auction, likely to occur between Sept. 20 and Sept. 26, will put the 43 parcels up for bidding as one bundled property. If no sale is made, the parcels will go up for auction again in October but at a bundled price of $500 per parcel. Theoretically, one buyer could walk away with all 43 parcels for $21,500.

I like that the Crain's writer gave a tip of the hat to the cultural significance of the Packard Plant. It truly is a magnificent and awe-inspiring presence regardless of one's take on it.

The plant does have cultural value for Detroit enthusiasts, ranking as a must-see destination, alongside the abandoned Michigan Central Depot train station, for documentarians and tourists. Artists have used the space for art installations and theatrical performances. The Packard plant also holds special status in the Detroit electronic music scene as the site of some of the more legendary raves of the 1990s.

[Ray1936]

You paint a pretty picture, Lowell, but -- thank you -- I shall not be bidding.

[RickBeall]

It would make a nice summer cottage.

[bibs]

What would be the approximate cost of demolision and remediation of the site?

[AUSSIE]

What would be the approximate cost of demolision and remediation of the site?

Not as much as you think!

A 40 ton excavator with a hyd. hammer and claws is all you would need, and a tip truck and trailer to cart it away [not sure of tipping fees in your city?] the steel would be accounted for and recycled

ONE person could do it, of course wont be the fastest way but you would be surprised what a good excavator operator can do in 10 hours.

Shame to see another piece of Packard leave the earth...

[old guy]

Not as much as you think!


ONE person could do it, of course wont be the fastest way but you would be surprised what a good excavator operator can do in 10 hours....

The Packard Plant down in 10 hours. Good luck with that one.
Maybe with a hydrogen bomb.

[AUSSIE]

The Packard Plant down in 10 hours. Good luck with that one.
Maybe with a hydrogen bomb.

Go have another read of what I wrote, a good excavator operator can do a whole lot of work in 10 hours, I DID NOT SAY the whole building!!I use to operate one, fairly hands one what they can do, cheers

[cramerro]

Not sure if there is another thread... this is pretty big news to me at least:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...text|FRONTPAGE

They have 'hired' Kahn to work on it, serious enough for Kahn to say they have a principal assigned to the project.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...O01/307170042/

They even did a whole rendering of the overpass... this must be for real [[/sarcasm).

Thoughts?

[old guy]

How many square feet does the Packard Plant have? Ballpark.

[Király]

Wikipedia says it has 3.5 million square feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Automotive_Plant

[M CD M]

Wikipedia says it has 3.5 million square feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Automotive_Plant

Is that before or after the collapsed floors? or is that just talking about ground floor footprint?

[Richard]

How many square feet does the Packard Plant have? Ballpark.

Year and Half ago it was at 2.2 million sqft,who's to say now considering the renewed interests in the unabated demolishing of the city,at that time it would have taken less then 18 million to get it serviceable enough for production or revenue generation multi use.

[wolverine]

I can't imagine anyone stupid enough to buy it. The building [[and the land) are such a liability.

[royce]

The Packard plant along with the entire area, bordered by I-94 to the north, St. Aubin to the west, Warren to the south, and Baldwin to the east, needs to be mothballed. Find housing for displaced residents in other parts of the metro area and let the Packard plant collapse on itself. In 50 years maybe the city will find a use for the area, but for now, worring about tearing down the Packard plant and redeveloping the area is a waste of time. Therefore, no one should be allowed to buy it because the area should be abandoned.

[mikefmich]

The Packard plant along with the entire area, bordered by I-94 to the north, St. Aubin to the west, Warren to the south, and Baldwin to the east, needs to be mothballed. Find housing for displaced residents in other parts of the metro area and let the Packard plant collapse on itself. In 50 years maybe the city will find a use for the area, but for now, worring about tearing down the Packard plant and redeveloping the area is a waste of time. Therefore, no one should be allowed to buy it because the area should be abandoned.

I think it already is abandoned? If the city can find a buyer that would pay property taxes, why should they let it just sit?

[mikefmich]

The only house my grandparents ever owned, where my ma was born, was within spitting distance of the plant. My grandfather worked there, as did many other relatives. My folks were married within spitting distance. Yeah...if I was a crazy billionaire, I'd buy & restore it. Why I bet that could be done for what.....a cool 200 million?

[jtf1972]

Matty should buy it & get the same restoration team from MCS working on it... provided it wouldn't distract them from the work they are doing on MCS.

[Honky Tonk]

Matty should buy it & get the same restoration team from MCS working on it... provided it wouldn't distract them from the work they are doing on MCS.

Rumor has it another window's going into MCS. There's going to be a press release.

[daddeeo]

This would be a major rehab job for the area. Can you imagine the brown site costs? I would think they could get government money for a clean up. It would be fun to take on if you won a big lottery.

[Honky Tonk]

This would be a major rehab job for the area. Can you imagine the brown site costs? I would think they could get government money for a clean up. It would be fun to take on if you won a big lottery.

It would, [[and should), be turned into another Uniroyal site.

[jtf1972]

It would, [[and should), be turned into another Uniroyal site.

I was thinking the perfect developer would actually be Illitch. He's great at turning historic buildings into gravel lots.

[Honky Tonk]

I was thinking the perfect developer would actually be Illitch. He's great at turning historic buildings into gravel lots.

Indeed he is, an artist in that respect. That and evicting those less fortunate then himself. If the old Packard plant were to come down tomorrow, you'd be faced with the content disposal issues, and it would be a l-o-n-g time, just like the Uniroyal site, before you could do anything inhabitable with the property.

[56packman]

No one is going to buy it due to the costs of doing anything, let alone the right thing, which is to demo it entirely and remediate the site. It's just going to remain a monument of corruption between the mayor's office [[Archer) his confederate in Lansing and someone crooked at the EPA.
Oh somone may buy it on the cheap, harvest whatever scrap they can and still leave the carcass, that is the danger of selling cheap.

[p69rrh51]

No one is going to buy it due to the costs of doing anything, let alone the right thing, which is to demo it entirely and remediate the site. It's just going to remain a monument of corruption between the mayor's office [[Archer) his confederate in Lansing and someone crooked at the EPA.
Oh somone may buy it on the cheap, harvest whatever scrap they can and still leave the carcass, that is the danger of selling cheap.

Very well stated!

[downtownguy]

It's just going to remain a monument of corruption between the mayor's office [[Archer) his confederate in Lansing and someone crooked at the EPA.

Can you explain how Archer's administration is involved in this? I'm not a fan of his, but this one did not show up on my radar.