Posted on 07/17/2013 7:17:09 PM PDT by shove_it
DETROIT, MI - The long-abandoned former Packard Automotive Plant, one of the largest empty buildings in the country, is reportedly close to being saved from the county foreclosure auction block.
The Detroit News reports an Illinois developer is speaking with Wayne County officials about purchasing the 40-acre property for $974,000, the amount owed in unpaid taxes.
From The News:
“Bill Hults, of Evanston, Ill., told The Detroit News he’s leading a group of investors who want to rehabilitate the crumbling 3.5-million-square-foot plant and build housing nearby. To complete the transformation, Hults has retained the legendary architectural firm that built the complex in 1903, Albert Kahn Associates.” Hults told The News his team of investors want to salvage as many of the 47 buildings on the property as possible. Physical work, such as adding barriers to the site, could begin within a week. The project could reportedly cost at least $350 million and span 15 years from beginning to completion.
Vacant and in disrepair for about two decades, the former automotive factory on Detroit’s east side had been headed for county foreclosure auction this fall, Wayne County Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski confirmed in May.
The property would have a beginning bid of about $974,000 (the amount of taxes owed) for its 43 parcels.
The Packard Plant has been an iconic part of Detroit’s “ruin porn," in which tourists and others gawk at and take photos of the city's abandoned and blighted buildings. It was designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1903.
The Packard Motor Car Company manufactured luxury vehicles there until 1958. Other businesses had been using the property of storage until the 1990s, when it was left completely vacant. From there, scrappers moved in and gutted what they could, while graffiti artists and others have since used the property as an urban canvas and playground.
The former Packard Plant property was foreclosed on in March. Its most-recent owner is listed as a Warren-based business called Bioresource.
Well, one could have a school in building sniper nests in abandoned buildings in urban areas.
The Packard plant isn’t even located on a scenic river.
Perhaps, but keep in mind that location is everything. Detroit is bound to become one of the hottest tourist destinations any day now.
You mean it's going to be up near the top of the list with Newark, Oakland, and Sanford?
if they wait to go to auction they can get it far cheaper.
more people want to leave detroit than live there.
how much public funding does it get?
“Ask the man who owns one.” Long ago motto of Packard. A high class vehicle of it’s day. Although they did introduce the 110/120 series of “family cars.”
Our next vacation is set for Gary, Indiana.
Here’s another restoration project of a much smaller scale that may have a chance of success in nearby Ypsilanti ...
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130718/METRO01/307180026/1409/METRO
“How about a hog rendering plant?”
Halal hog?
The sale won’t happen. Old Man Packard is gonna cave to the unions any day now, any day....
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