DETROIT (WWJ) — After sitting vacant for decades, a major eyesore for the city of Detroit is finally coming down.
The final phase of demolition on the abandoned Packard Plant on the city’s east side began Monday, nearly 70 years after Packard Motors stopped producing luxury cars at the site.
Designed by renowned architect Albert Khan, the plant on East Grand Boulevard near I-94 opened in 1903. It remained in use with various businesses at the location until 2010. Over the years, vandals have turned it into an eyesore emblematic of Detroit’s decay, minus the city’s resurgence in the last decade.
Thanks to American Rescue Plan dollars, demolition began on Monday on the southern section of the plant, which Mayor Mike Duggan says will cost about $1.2 million.
“But right now on the other side of East Grand Boulevard, the environmental abatements are already starting, where another $12 million of demolition will occur later on this year. And by the end of 2024 the Packard Plant will finally be history,” Duggan said at a press conference at the site.
While future plans for the property remain up in the air, Duggan said over the next few months the city will be putting out proposals to businesses to use the site.
Monday morning WWJ’s Charlie Langton spoke to several Detroiters who live near the Packard Plant. The consensus seems to be they’re happy to see the vacant building done away with.
“That’s good. It needed to be torn down. We need new buildings over there, new jobs, new opportunities. That’s a good thing,” said Darrell Sanders.
Emergency demolition of the plant began in September of 2022 after the city’s largest abandoned auto plant was declared an immediate hazard several months earlier.
Peruvian businessman Fernando Palazuelo purchased the 3.5 million-square-foot property in 2013 and had plans for a $350 million mixed-use development. But nothing was ever done with the site.
A judge eventually sided with the city in a lawsuit and Palazuelo was ordered to demolish it.
But after missing the deadline to apply for demolition permits and failing to pay more than $1.5 million in taxes, officials said “his non-compliance has allowed the City of Detroit to move forward with demolition plans for the parcel,” according to prior reports.
Duggan said Monday he “never believed” Palazuelo’s plans would ever materialize at the blighted location.
“I refused to sell the portion of this plant the city owned to him because I never believed it was real. But we had to sue him to get title, and it’s unfortunate that it got delayed,” Duggan said. “But because of President Biden and the American Rescue Plan, we got the money to take this down and turn it into a site manufacturing jobs for Detroiters. And that is really exciting.”