Re: One Story Assembly Plant What If?
Posted by Leeedy On 2014/5/18 10:55:03
Yes. I remember very vividly my dad owned commercial property on Mt. Elliot not far from the Packard Plant in the 1950s. Right next door to one of my dad's buildings was a construction company and my dad knew the owner. That man had friends in the building demolition biz.
One day we were having lunch around 1957-58 when the subject of the Packard Plant came up-as it often did back then. The construction company owner told my dad it would probably bankrupt any demo company brave enough to tackle the job. And when there was so much hassle and lost money tearing down the Hudson plant, no Detroit demo company wanted to touch the Packard plant back in those days. One more reason why and how it managed to hold on for so long.
I firmly believe the plant would still be solid today had there not been silliness and fighting between the owner and City of Detroit or whomever else was involved. Just nuts. After all of that fighting... what taxes were collected? And what funds were lost permanently? And what happened to all of the poor businesses that were still in the plant and happy being there, paying rent? What happened to all of the money these businesses (and dare I say-JOBS) these small enterprises provided in this impoverished area? So instead, somebody, somewhere decided to have a ridiculous fight that resolved nothing... and to let this gigantic historic property be completely unguarded, trashed, and left open to every imaginable crime! Brilliant. And a crying shame.
Anyway, I am well familiar with the goings-on at the Packard Plant on East Grand these days. I have friends in Michigan who occasionally spin past and take a look...even send newspaper clippings. Very sad.
And yes, I already knew about scrappers stealing the roof reinforcement sections. Amazed at how they manage to get some of that metal out without killing themselves. But apparently it continues.
And the question that nobody-but NOBODY-ever asks is... WHO are the companies buying all of this stolen material from the Packard Plant and other structures around Detroit and why are they not being held responsible? Like whatever scrap company that paid $75 to the retarded junkies who broke into one of my family's properties in Detroit and stole my two brand-new (NOS) Dodge Red-Ram hemi engines with GM 671 blowers stored since the 1950s (the engines went to my boat which was built in 1952). You think the company that bought these engines DIDN'T know they were hot? It's THAT crazy there.
When the PAC National Meet took place in 2013 I conducted a bus tour that went to the ruins of the Packard Plant. I warned people to stay away from the walls of the building at Grand Blvd and Concord because I pointed out that the wall up near the roof was beginning to buckle. I knew that structural elements of the roof had been removed. I predicted it would not make it through winter and apparently I was right. No brick structure this tall and heavy can stand unreinforced-especially when it already shows signs of buckling.
Below is a photo I took at that time that shows the bulge on the upper part of the wall above what was left of the Packard Bridge. No way that was going to last...
Attach file:
(108.33 KB)
One day we were having lunch around 1957-58 when the subject of the Packard Plant came up-as it often did back then. The construction company owner told my dad it would probably bankrupt any demo company brave enough to tackle the job. And when there was so much hassle and lost money tearing down the Hudson plant, no Detroit demo company wanted to touch the Packard plant back in those days. One more reason why and how it managed to hold on for so long.
I firmly believe the plant would still be solid today had there not been silliness and fighting between the owner and City of Detroit or whomever else was involved. Just nuts. After all of that fighting... what taxes were collected? And what funds were lost permanently? And what happened to all of the poor businesses that were still in the plant and happy being there, paying rent? What happened to all of the money these businesses (and dare I say-JOBS) these small enterprises provided in this impoverished area? So instead, somebody, somewhere decided to have a ridiculous fight that resolved nothing... and to let this gigantic historic property be completely unguarded, trashed, and left open to every imaginable crime! Brilliant. And a crying shame.
Anyway, I am well familiar with the goings-on at the Packard Plant on East Grand these days. I have friends in Michigan who occasionally spin past and take a look...even send newspaper clippings. Very sad.
And yes, I already knew about scrappers stealing the roof reinforcement sections. Amazed at how they manage to get some of that metal out without killing themselves. But apparently it continues.
And the question that nobody-but NOBODY-ever asks is... WHO are the companies buying all of this stolen material from the Packard Plant and other structures around Detroit and why are they not being held responsible? Like whatever scrap company that paid $75 to the retarded junkies who broke into one of my family's properties in Detroit and stole my two brand-new (NOS) Dodge Red-Ram hemi engines with GM 671 blowers stored since the 1950s (the engines went to my boat which was built in 1952). You think the company that bought these engines DIDN'T know they were hot? It's THAT crazy there.
When the PAC National Meet took place in 2013 I conducted a bus tour that went to the ruins of the Packard Plant. I warned people to stay away from the walls of the building at Grand Blvd and Concord because I pointed out that the wall up near the roof was beginning to buckle. I knew that structural elements of the roof had been removed. I predicted it would not make it through winter and apparently I was right. No brick structure this tall and heavy can stand unreinforced-especially when it already shows signs of buckling.
Below is a photo I took at that time that shows the bulge on the upper part of the wall above what was left of the Packard Bridge. No way that was going to last...
Attach file:
(108.33 KB)
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