  Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1067 Registered: 06-2004 |
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007 0716/SUB/70715007 | ||
Tiberius Member Username: Tiberius Post Number: 26 Registered: 06-2007 |
Finally | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 1725 Registered: 05-2005 |
awesome, i just hope potential buyers don't raze the whole thing | ||
Slider Member Username: Slider Post Number: 11 Registered: 06-2007 |
This has the potential to be a huge (both in scale and impact) adaptive reuse project. This would be an incredible mixed-use building. Unfortunately the soft real estate market, a less-than-desirable area, and the sheet size are likely to scare off any redevelopment proposals. If Hudsons was supposedly to large to redevelop on prime Woodward frontage, are we naive to think something positive will happen with the Packard? | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1517 Registered: 12-2005 |
The article states that the plant is a 38 acre site. I have always understood it to be a 64 acre site (64 acres, bisected by EGB with rail access). With all of the intentional exposure to the elements done by the 1999 "evil consortium" (with the assistance of people high up in the CoD and the SoM), the lax security during the 8 years of "security" paid for by the CoD and the scrappers free-for-all since the security detail left, it's assured to be a goner. I would like to see the office building on EGB reused, perhaps as the front office to a new, modern plant in back, but since manufacturing anything in the US has become unthinkable, there isn't a lot of hope for that, either. | ||
Jdkeepsmiling Member Username: Jdkeepsmiling Post Number: 280 Registered: 01-2006 |
How about Toyota buying it and making it their newest assembly plant in the US. They could demo almost everything, but keep the facade. This would give them bragging rights in the Midwest and provide a gut check for the Big 3. | ||
Revaldullton Member Username: Revaldullton Post Number: 282 Registered: 07-2007 |
Yes, Packard is a beautiful structure and lofts would be amazing there but that area of the east side is a bit too far from downtown to revitalize at the moment. Used to love to go shopping there when Arlan's and King's Way dept stores inhabited the packard. Sad, I hope it does not get razed in agreement with the other poster. the good rev | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1518 Registered: 12-2005 |
Toyota and the other Japanese brands/suppliers avoid inner city locations like the plague. They would much rather buy up a cornfield in BFE Ohio. I don't see them coming anywhere near the D, not even Ford's newly shuttered Wixom plant. | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 2301 Registered: 07-2004 |
So, Oppmac inc., is now Burger Easton & Co.? If so, do they still owe the 1.7 million on the mortgage? | ||
Buddyinrichmond Member Username: Buddyinrichmond Post Number: 191 Registered: 02-2004 |
Sure is Royce. The guys who owe stacks of cash on properties are always able to retain their rights to ownership. That's the hidden secret why Detroit looks the way it does. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1519 Registered: 12-2005 |
Burger & Easton is a broker/seller, Oppmac is the owner. If you drive down a street and see a Century 21 sign that dosen't mean they own the house. | ||
Wolverine Member Username: Wolverine Post Number: 350 Registered: 04-2004 |
C'mon guys, you think any automaker would try to retrofit some of these old worn out plants, especially one like Packard with its vertically and low ceilings? If I ran an auto company, I wouldn't even THINK of wasting my time with that mess. I'd rather see Packard become some sort of mega loft development, but with unsold units on projects yet to build, I'm not quite sure that will happen. I'd love to see it saved though, it a remarkable place. | ||
Revaldullton Member Username: Revaldullton Post Number: 291 Registered: 07-2007 |
Best thing the Packard could hope for is that redevlopment moves its way from the epicenter towards it. Unless Trump buys it to speculate, but I dont see that happening. the good rev | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 1564 Registered: 11-2003 |
That plant, with that size, and that craptastic location?? Tear that schitt down! Seriously. Maybe you can save the main office. But that place is falling apart. That neighborhood sucks (who, with the money, would really choose to go live in "Packard Lofts" out there?), and it is just too big anyway. Sorry to say it, but that is, unfortunately, a building that just needs to go. As cool of a ruin as it is. As cool as lofts would be. The market is NEVER going to support something like that, at least not within the next decade or two, if ever. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1073 Registered: 11-2003 |
You wouldn't think it'd be asking too much to save just the front office. But I'm afraid that the inevitable demolition will be typically blind & sweeping, and take down the office, too. One of the few examples of a classic auto plant office building being saved during demolition is the old Fisher 1 office building in Flint. | ||
Dialh4hipster Member Username: Dialh4hipster Post Number: 2117 Registered: 11-2004 |
With the demo of the Packard plant maybe you guys will finally get your downtown Wal-Mart! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1521 Registered: 12-2005 |
And we'll get the doorway arches and grille-stone from the bridge for the Packard Proving Grounds historic site in Shelby Twp. | ||
Eric Member Username: Eric Post Number: 894 Registered: 11-2004 |
Anyone have an extra 13 million lying around? Historic Packard Car Plant Offered for $13M By Robert Carr DETROIT- The 35-acre former Packard Motor Car Co. site, the company idled since 1957 and subsequent tenants deserting almost 10 years ago, is now for sale for $13 million. The site has more than 3.5 million sf of empty industrial buildings, and many are defaced and damaged. The seller is Bio Resources LLC, an investment group that reportedly includes local foreclosure owner Romel Casab. The group won ownership earlier this year, after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against the city of Detroit’s bid to take over the property for collection of back taxes. David Wax, senior associate at Burger Easton & Co., says a buyer could reuse the former single-line plant, but would likely look to demolition. “It’s a major project no matter what happens,” Wax tells GlobeSt.com. “It would take a large coordinated effort, not from a guy who just buys local strip malls. This would have to be a large developer who could go to state and county officials to find available brownfield redevelopment funds. However, the Albert-Kahn designed plant is pretty solid.” The plant, built in 1903, was the first industrial building in Detroit to have reinforced concrete. The building had been leased by various tenants up until 1997, Wax says. “Then, the tenants were paying about $125,000 per month in rent,” he says. Tenants left when the city tried to take over the site. “The buildings continued to deteriorate with no protection,” Wax says. He says though Michigan is struggling with lost jobs and leaving companies, the Detroit area industrial market is doing well. “I’ve never been busier than in the past 12 months,” Wax says. “Even if one company moves out of a space, there always seems to be another company wanting to move in.” The city’s industrial vacancy rate is at 14.3%, according to a second quarter report by CB Richard Ellis. http://www.globest.com/news/94 9_949/detroit/162323-1.html | ||
Tiberius Member Username: Tiberius Post Number: 27 Registered: 06-2007 |
It's way to far gone to be restored and I don't see an investor spending mega bucks to bring it down. Why would they? | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1523 Registered: 12-2005 |
quote: "The building had been leased by various tenants up until 1997, Wax says. “Then, the tenants were paying about $125,000 per month in rent,” he says. Tenants left when the city tried to take over the site" Correction--the city evicted the tenants (on city letterhead) when they attempted to take over the site. | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 184 Registered: 08-2006 |
I wouldn't say it's too far gone to be restored. The Packard is solid, it just needs to be cleaned out, new windows and floorboards, new electrical. But the place is just too damn big. And it's not built with modern industrial standards in mind (high ceilings, large open spaces). I say demo everything south of EGB, save the old section and convert into lofts/offices, and hope to redevelop the rest of the site into new apartments, commercial space, etc. |
