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Below is a link to a Detroit News article about the completion of the demolition at the PMCC plant – only 2 buildings have been left standing. Be sure to click onto the video in the article from 2021. It will give you a “before” prospective.

A photo is attached – looking toward the NW, showing the intersection of East Grand Boulevard and Concord Avenue.

Very glad the Packard Motor Car Foundation is saving the Packard Proving Grounds.

detroitnews.com/story/business/2025/03/1 ... m=hero&utm_content=pdtn-e-nletter65

Thanks. Here is a photo from yesterday. The Packard Bridge spot.

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Sad to see but long past time to go. Are the buildings still standing those owned by others and can't be demolished under current laws or a long court fight or is there still some part of a grand scheme of resurrection in play and they were left untouched on purpose..

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Nice Buick! I see someone has good taste!

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The Detroit News article is paywalled, so it can't be read without a subscription.

There are actually more than the two buildings #13 and #27 left. Just across the railroad tracks is building #82, the 1927-28 aircraft engine building. That building is in great condition and is in active use for offices.

South of EGB the only thing left besides #27 is the row of small single floor sheds (buildings #47, 48, 49, 50, 90, and 91) along the railroad track that date to the mid-1910's. These are under private ownership and unless the City can seize them for unpaid taxes, they are out of their control. After the huge outcry created in the 1980's by the seizure of property for redevelopment into GM's Poletown assembly plant, Michigan cities can no longer use Eminent Domain to take land and buildings.

On the north side of EGB and east of the railroad tracks, everything between the #13 Administration Building and the #22 Merlin Engine building has been leveled. Both of the World War II engine buildings along Harper (and now the I-94 Edsel Ford Expressway) are still standing and are in active use. #22 is the home of The Display Group, a company that builds product displays for trade shows, auto shows, etc. The #84 building, which I believe is where the PT boat and other marine engines were built, is now housing the Integrated Packaging Corp. and Fontana Forest Products, both active businesses.

Buildings #83 and #85 are connected to the south end of #84, but are owned by the Catholic order of Capuchin monks. They have been built onto and expanded over the years, and now they serve as part of the headquarters for the Capuchin Soup Kitchen operations.

According to Mr. Pushbutton, there is one more Packard building left at the old plant site. That was the circa 1950 car shipping office and factory delivery building at Mt. Elliott and Medbury. That building appears empty, but it is secure and it looks like it has recently received some paint and other maintenance.

Speaking of upgrades, during yesterday's (March 12, 2025) tour of the area, we noted that the "legendary" (read: infamous) Packard Motel is now advertising on its sign that it is "Drug Free." Um, good luck with that...

But on a positive note, no one can deny that the whole area looks so much better now. You can see people starting to improve their houses, and urban farms are (ahem) sprouting up. Life is coming back to the area, which is no longer weighed down by the rotted industrial corpse of our dearly beloved Packard Motor Car Co.

As they say proudly in Detroit, Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus ("We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes.)

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Sike

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Sad those buildings couldn't have been repurposed as part of Detroit's halting renaissance, as Pierce-Arrow's complete factory so preserved during Buffalo's rebirth. The Pierce plant was built two and a half years later on the same size acreage, also designed by Albert Kahn, using the same new Trussed Concrete Steel Company products introduced by his brother Julius.

But the Packard plant was fallow too long, too far gone for such use. But we've got the cars, others the parts. If only there were a Packard zone rep, let alone service department around.

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The building mentioned here is not "according to Mr. Pushbutton" but is according to me. I have been watching that building since 1950 when it was first erected– and keeping photos and tabs on it. My dad and I owned commercial property just a few blocks away on Mt. Elliott and we drove past this building almost daily for decades. I also have photos of it that I took back to the 1960s. Anyone who really knows the building will tell you that the front of the architecture has been drastically modified from the way it originally was. During the 1970s this place was so run-down and forgotten, it became a store front Baptist church. What is now a parking lot across the street from it was originally the site of "The Packard Bar"... and later "The NEW Packard Bar"... where some of the best hamburgers in Detroit were once made. I still have photos I took in the 1970s.

This building has not "received paint." Unless you want to count the graffiti sprayed all over the bricks and stonework out front. The City of Detroit DID rip out the original sidewalk, some curb and the original truck barriers– which were STILL there until a coupe of years ago. I think the city HAD to do that because of a federal grant and a law. There is also a concrete pad now around the rear of the building... but that came when the city did the sidewalks.

As for "The Packard Motel"... Another place I have known and monitored since it was first built. I already posted here on Packard Information (look it up) photos of when the motel was completely remodeled and partially restored in recent times. AND I discussed the "drug free" signage and the reason why. This has already been posted here. You will note that the motel parking lot is now surrounded by a tall iron bar fence. All for a reason. This is not to protect patrons, but it is there to keep occupants of this drug rehab and half-way house IN. The Packard Motel is no longer a "hot bunk" motel.

These "Packard Plant tours"...OMG. People are very badly mistaken about what is left of the Packard Plant and what is not. And how the property has transitioned. Today while people refer to Capuchin Monks and a food facility... this place and the lot in front of it was originally where NEW Packards were stored before being shipped out either by truck or train. The first business to take it over was a "Food Fair" supermarket... followed by "Farmer Jack" supermarket. The monks came wayyyyyy later.

The engine plant building is still there and much of the design center and Packard Employment office (on Concord Avenue) is still there. The Packard foundries and other facilities across Harper Avenue are long, long gone along with Harper Avenue at this point. But people today don't even know this stuff was ever there! All replaced (along with whacked-off parts of the engine plant and Styling Center) taken out by Edsel Ford Expressway (I-94). Much of Packard Styling center and Packard Employment Office (know where that was?) still remain!! Does anyone know these facts?

The area looks "better now"... seriously? With the "Packard Motel" looking like (and probably being) a prison? With an adjacent city block surrounded by a yellow "prison" stockade fence and ominous-looking gate with vehicles coming and going and armed guards (for nobody knows)? Fixing up houses? Where? Better than what? Look on the ground two blocks away and there are STILL hypodermic needles in the bushes.

While it may seem better to look at the plant leveled, eradicated and no more clearly evident reminders of barbaric neglect and crime, look at what has been lost. You don't miss your water until your well runs dry. But for those who never had a well... how can they possibly miss the water?