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Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
#1
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RogerDetroit
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Crain’s Detroit Business Journal
February 12, 2021

Packard Plant owner said he would pay hundreds of thousands in late taxes by end of 2020. He hasn't.

• Packard Plant owner's promise to pay some late taxes by end of 2020 goes unfulfilled.
• Fernando Palazuelo now owes more than double ($821,426) what he paid for the plant in 2013.
• He says he is "making arrangements" on ensuring balances are paid.

Packard Plant owner Fernando Palazuelo hasn't made good on a claim he made in October that he would pay at least $200,000 in back-due property taxes by the end of 2020.

In fact, he actually owes more today than he did at that time as the historic but dilapidated 40-acre property with 3.2 million square feet of Albert Kahn-designed space teeters toward foreclosure.

A little over four months ago, the developer, now living in Peru, owed $774,723 in back taxes and unpaid Detroit Water and Sewerage Department bills and Palazuelo said he would pay a substantial portion of that by year's end.

Today, he owes $821,426, according to data Crain's compiled Wednesday using the Wayne County Treasurer's Office website. That $47,702 increase is likely attributed to interest and late penalties.

Complete article is here:https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-estate/packard-plant-owner-said-he-would-pay-hundreds-thousands-late-taxes-end-2020-he-hasnt?utm_source=crain-s-breaking-news-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210212&utm_content=hero-readmore

Posted on: 2021/2/12 16:01
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1941 Model 160 Convertible Sedan
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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John
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What plans does he have for this property??

Posted on: 2021/2/12 16:33
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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Kevin
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Palazuelo has no firm plans for the property at the moment. The last article I saw on this topic (which was also on Crain's Detroit Business) said that he had basically given up on trying to rehab anything except for the Building 13 Administration structure fronting on E. Grand Boulevard. The rest of the property has been advertised as being "available for redevelopment." So it will probably all be razed fairly soon.

Posted on: 2021/2/12 21:26
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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bkazmer
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while that is the latest stated intent, there's to my knowledge no active plan to do anything at all. Demolition of a site with likely asbestos and PCB's is not an inexpensive process.The city could foreclose for taxes, but then what?

Posted on: 2021/2/13 8:39
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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BigKev
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Probably not a popular view, but at this point, there is really nothing left of historic value. The exec building was stripped of most of its wood years ago. Various structural members have been removed by scrappers. Scrappers and souvenir hunters have removed anything they could. The iconic door surrounds were removed long ago. The bridge has collapsed. At this point there is really nothing worth saving. It a deplidated shell of a building with a massive price tag to clean up, stabilize and bring up to code for any use. I'm getting tired of it being used as the poster for urban decay.

Maybe it's time to let it go and remember the good times. It rather see see an empty field with a memorial sign about it's past, than the sad, unrecoverable state it's in now.

Posted on: 2021/2/13 9:17
-BigKev


1954 Packard Clipper Deluxe Touring Sedan -> Registry | Project Blog

1937 Packard 115-C Convertible Coupe -> Registry | Project Blog
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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Leeedy
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As someone who owned three commercial buildings on Mt. Elliott (since the 1950s), just blocks away from the Packard plant... and familiar with the plant since it was in operation I can tell you a few things:

1.) We had commercial buildings in the area and watched the value drop after Packard left.... as if it was all water in a tub and somebody yanked the drain plug. We had those properties since the 1950s and they became almost worthless overnight.

2.) Of the three buildings I had, two are vacant lots today. The third was built over with another commercial building.

3.) Whatever remains of the Packard plant is there not because the guy from Peru saved it (he didn't). It is there because it would cost a fortune just to tear it down. And then what?

Anyone who took the time to watch the overly-staged news conferences during the last few years could easily tell you that the minute the TV cameras were switched off, the fake "activities" stopped. And NOBODY was there working the next day.

Meanwhile, the Detroit city government is still sitting there... like an alligator hissing with its mouth open. Just like it was when the poor fellow who previously owned the plant was hanging on for dear life (the city "fathers" in their incredibly brilliant vision made a grab for the property and evicted the PAYING TENANTS–yes, the site was generating revenue and was home to numerous businesses–who were paying taxes to the city and creating jobs). What a move. What a history. Sad, sadder, saddest.

Posted on: 2021/2/13 9:42
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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Fish'n Jim
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Nothing different except size to restoring a rusted/stripped out hulk car. The value at the end just doesn't justify the cost. Human's are too sentimental about somethings. Packard isn't coming back.
They're just as likely to raze ALL of Detroit from what's left abandoned. They didn't even have money to replace the lead pipes. I remember that being done in the town I grew up in, in the '60s, so shame on the city govt for letting it sit like that so long. Move on.
These political "wars" of offering enticements and tax breaks to businesses and sports teams, causes all this business movement, zero sum game. Billionaires get richer at taxpayer expense. The same more or less happened when P pulled out of Warren, but the times were much different and that was a strong steel area, not auto, so had plenty of time to "heal". But a shell of it's former self. att he same time there's a migration south and it's not suffering from development "bloat". Quality of life goes down as the traffic jams go up. Zero planning by govt.

Posted on: 2021/2/13 9:57
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Re: Packard Plant Update - 2/12/2021
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RogerDetroit
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John, Palazuelo only plans are to get away from this property – he no longer wants it. Years ago experts told him to market it as an industrial or warehouse property, but he would not listen. Only now is his real estate agent marketing it this way.

Kevin is right that the property is “ready for redevelopment.” But in my opinion, it will not be razed anytime soon. It will be left to rot until someone has the money to tear it down.

Remember Palazuelo does NOT own the entire site. The City of Detroit owns buildings on the south side of E. Grand Boulevard and has torn down several of them. But Detroit has run out of money. City council just passed a resolution to sell $250 Million of bonds to demolish 16,000 vacant homes in the city. However, the city owns 102,330 vacant homes that need to be demolished.

There are a lot of cities in America that don’t contain 102,330 homes, let alone need to tear down that many. Demolishing the remaining 86,330 vacant homes will take another $1.35 Billion (yes, with a “B”). So no money left for the CofD to tear it down.

As Kevin and Leeedy mention it is tiring and it is sad and the only reason it still stands is because it costs too much to tear down.

And then what? You’ll have 40 acres of vacant land in a city with 43 square miles of vacant land. I suspect I will be gone before the PMCC Plant is gone.

Posted on: 2021/2/13 12:51
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1941 Model 160 Convertible Sedan
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