Packard Automotive Plant

The 3,500,000-square-foot (325,000 m²), designed by Albert Kahn Associates using Trussed Concrete Steel Company products is located on 40 acres (16 ha) of land on East Grand Boulevard on Detroit's east side. It included the first use of reinforced concrete in the United States for industrial construction in the automobile industry.[1][2][3][4][5]

The Packard plant was opened in 1903 and contained 10,000 square feet of floor space and at the time was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world: modern, efficient, and massive in scale. By 1908, when an enlargement for the construction of trucks was announced, the factory was already six times larger than when constructed and occupied over fourteen acres of space.[6] At its peak the complex employed 40,000 people, including skilled craftsmen involved in over eighty trades. The plant turned out Packard automobiles from 1903 to 1956, except during World War II, when production was shifted to war material, particularly the Packard V-1650 Merlin, which powered the North American P-51 Mustang fighter plane.[7]

The factory complex closed in 1958, though other businesses operated on the premises or used it for storage until the late 1990s.

In the 1990s, the buildings were used to host infamous "underground" raves and techno parties, including the Spastik party hosted by Richie Hawtin.[8][9] The majority of the property was claimed by the city of Detroit in 1994 after former owners failed to pay back taxes.[10]

A number of the outer buildings were in use by businesses up through the early 2000s. In 2010, the last remaining tenant, Chemical Processing, announced its intention to vacate the premises after 52 years.[11]

The site was subsequently used as a filming location for many movies and TV shows.[12]

Due to tax delinquency, the 43 parcels composing the plant were put up for auction in September 2013. The starting bid was $975,000 (the amount owed in taxes) and there were no takers.[24]

Another auction in October 2013 posted a starting bid of $21,000, or about $500 per parcel.[25] This auction closed with a top bid of $6,038,000 by Dr. Jill Van Horn, a Texas-based physician who announced in an email that she would team up with "partners and investors from Detroit, Wall Street and international firms," to turn the site into an "economic engine", refurbishing the plant grounds for a manufactured-house assembly facility.[26] However, the deadline for full payment was missed, prompting Wayne County to initiate talks with the second-highest bidder, Bill Hults, a Chicago-area developer who placed a $2,003,000 bid in the October auction. In a separate email, Dr. Van Horn stated, "It seemed (David Szymanski, Deputy Wayne County Treasurer) had already made up his mind to talk to the second bidder". Hults then made several non-refundable down-payments on the plant, but he ultimately failed to raise the entire sum of his bid.

Around the same time in October 2013, a Spanish investor, Fernando Palazuelo, also expressed interest in securing the Packard Plant. It was purchased for $405,000 on December 12, 2013.[27] Palazuelo, who has developed historic buildings in Spain and Peru,[28] planned on moving into the plant by April 9, his 59th birthday. He planned on having six different uses for the Packard Plant Project (residential, retail, offices, light industry, recreation and art), estimated to cost about $350 million over the next 10 to 15 years. He hoped to bring a big-3 automotive-parts manufacturer to the plant in exchange for a few years of free rent. He also hoped to create a work space for local artists and an upscale go-kart track.[29]

As of August 2016, no redevelopment had taken place at the historic 40-acre site on Detroit's east side. At the time, many remained skeptical that the enormous effort would ever succeed — or even get off the ground — given the nearly half-billion-dollar price tag of the project that Palazuelo had envisioned.[30]

In May 2017, Arte Express, the holding company for Palazuelo, held a ground breaking ceremony for phase I of the project which will include the former 121,000-square-foot administrative building on the site.[31] On August 12, 2017, the inaugural public tour of the property was conducted, which included access to the second floor of the administration building on the complex's western side.[32]

Partial demolition underway in 2022

The city demolished several structures on parcels it owned at the Packard Plant in 2017.[33] In October 2020, it was announced that the original redevelopment vision for the site had been abandoned, and Palazuelo would be placing the property up for sale, with an eye toward large-scale demolition to repurpose the site for industrial use.[34]

On April 7, 2022, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan ordered the demolition of the Packard auto plant in Detroit, finding that it had become a public nuisance.[35][36] The city began a search for contractors in May 2022.[37] In late July 2022, Detroit City Council approved a nearly $1.7 million contract for the demolition of a portion of the Packard Plant.[33] On October 27, 2022, demolition began on building 21 of the northern complex. Demolition finished by the end of December; however, some remnants remained. On January 24, 2023, the city began demolishing a second portion of the plant, building 28, of the southern complex. By the end of March, demolition of building 28 was successful, and all rubble was transported away from the site. However, by early April, it was revealed that the city halted all demolition operations at the Packard Plant, including the (then) ongoing demolition of building 21. The absentee owner was able to pay their property taxes before the deadline came, which allowed them to secure their ownership of the privately owned sections of the Packard Plant. As of early April, new "NO TRESSPASSING/PRIVATELY OWNED" signs have been posted at every privately owned parcel. The city of Detroit may not have the rights to proceed with demolition anymore. The city stated that they will save some buildings of the Packard Plant in order to preserve history but will continue to demolish other portions of the plant throughout 2023. [38]

• Baldwin, Neil (2002). Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate. Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-163-6.
• Darley, Gillian (2003). Factory. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-155-6.
• Olsen, Byron (2002). The American Auto Factory. MotorBooks International. ISBN 978-0-7603-1059-5.
• Smith, Terry (1994). Making the Modern: Industry, Art, and Design in America. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-76347-7.