Michigan's Wayne County has confirmed that the historic Packard plant located on the east side of Detroit will be auctioned off next September with an opening bid of $975,000, the sum of the back taxes owed by the 43 different parcels that make up the factory. The 40-acre facility was foreclosed last March.
The city of Detroit has been wondering what to do with the run-down factory for the past several years. Considered a danger and an eyesore by local residents, the place is regularly set on fire and home to numerous trespassers but it still had at least one legal tenant last year. Bioresource, the factory's current owner, did not keep its promise to demolish the place altogether and salvage the leftover scrap metal, a process which city officials estimate could cost upwards of $20 million.
Wayne County's Deputy Treasurer David Szymanski hopes that a wealthy bidder will take over the 102-year old Albert Kahn-penned structure and put it to good use. Tearing it down and starting from scratch is an option, but Szymanski believes that the foundations are not damaged and that most of the buildings are salvageable.
“When they built these, they built them like the pyramids, to last forever, not knowing how strong the material was,” he explained. “The framework is strong enough I think that you’ve got no problem. I doubt that it’s something you want to demolish and start from scratch; you probably want to use this infrastructure, and rebuild.”
City officials want the factory to be restored one way or another they are selling it with a reverter clause that gives the new owner six months to either demolish the place or secure and maintain it. If the engagement is not fulfilled, the city reserves the right to take the factory back.
The precise date of the auction has yet to be set.
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