Packard Forum Index » General

detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=5450


"56Packman"="mrPushbutton" there.

Wow! How much are they planning to demolish this go around? I thought there was still some kind of legal wrangling going on over some parts of it.

Howard, there are no immediate plans to demolish any of it, this just happened by the force of nature (and scrappers) water gets in, we go sub-zero, or at least below freezing for months at a time and this is the result.
The entire complex is the wild, wild west, scrappers have been hard at work for over six years now, and the police have no interest or manpower to devote to keeping people out.
THe city waged a decade-long attempt to seize the complex beginning in 1998-99, a local real estate speculator, whose son owned a demolition firm had the inside track with the city and state to get EPA superfund brownfield reclamation super-dollars to pull the complex down. It was all there, had 117 tennants (I was in with one of them for storage) and the city banished all of them, basically denied the owners the due process to make good on back taxes owed in the intrest of getting the superfund dollars and end up with a 64 contigious acre site with railroad access right off of I-94. A legal battle raged on for years, the city had police cars guarding the administration bldg, making sure the owner/owner's agent didn't have access. After the first year or so it was a rent-a-cop watching for the city, then the fun began. The complex went downhill fast. After nine years the Michigan Supreme court ruled that the city acted improperly and had to cease any activity against the complex. Now it is in ruins, the owners have milked out any monetary value from the historical pieces that were left (the doorways and bridge radiator stone pieces that were sold last year), they donated the wood paneling from the executive offices and floor to the proving grounds project and it sits, is wide open and a city that is broker than broke can't afford to tear it down, even if the owner lets them. I suspect the portion that collapsed here, on the south side will stay that way unitl the big job begins of demolishing the entire complex, the price of scrap steel will determine that day.

John,

Looks like we continue to travel in the same circles (or at least websites). Unfortunately the plant is destined to die a slow painful death unless, like you stated, the price of steel skyrockets. OR..something really unfortunate happens like a group of suburban adventurers gets hurt or worse. Then maybe there will be that large human cry that is often needed to get anything done.

A sad state of affairs

So true, one day it will come down, now it's just a free-for-all. I prefer to remember it as it was. I remember the day during the 1982 convention when the head of the social services administration took a group of us up to her office, which was the President's office, and in very good condition. As my friend JohnMacArthur said in the recent Cormorant issue, "it was all there, just needed cleaning".
The sad thing is that some powerful people conspired to get the plant complex to where it is today, and no one really cares. We had cars in there, on the fifth floor they didn't age a day in 10 years, they were so far up in the air, off of the dew line.

I came across this photo from a Facebook friend, I recognized it immediately as the Packard plant.

Attach file:

---

  (48.33 KB)

looks like the Goddess of Speed is looking down in sadness.

My family was in town this weekend to spend Father's Day with my dad. From the Edsel Ford expressway you can see how much has collapsed in the last couple of months. After a nice dinner downtown Saturday we could have easily taken a slight detour down East Grand Blvd but I didn't have the heart.

What gets me is other major cities take great pains to preserve their history/heritage for future generations but not Detroit. Witness Michigan Central train station, Graystone Ballroom, Tiger Stadium, Olympia Stadium (is it still around?). I guess you can't do much if you're broke though.

Fortunately there are successful private citizens (Mike Illitch) around or we would not have the Fox theater or the Palms theater. Oh, and I can't forget the Packard Proving Grounds. We all have a part in saving that place.

Pack120c, Olympia was demolished in 1986. Michigan Central is a high profile abandoned structure like the Packard Plant.
Where did you take Dad to eat?

John,

We went to Harbor House just outside of Greektown. We had 13 people. All the dads (my dad, me, 2 brother in laws) spouses and kids. Good food. Good time.

It was really hopping downtown with the Tigers playing the Diamondbacks and Riverdays(?) going on. Nice to see the activity. Wasn't too long ago that you could throw a rock and not hit anybody.