
The Associated Press
Demolition of the long-vacant Packard auto plant in Detroit started Sept. 29 as crews began tearing apart an already crumbling exterior wall of the massive structure, reports the Associated Press.

(AP Photos/Corey Williams)
A demolition claw ripped and tugged on decades-old bricks and concrete along the upper floors of the old eastside factory that for generations has been a symbol of urban blight in the Motor City.
The work follows up on a plan by Mayor Mike Duggan to start razing parts of the 3.5 million-square-foot Packard plant complex, which developer and owner Fernando Palazuelo failed to do after buying it in 2013.
The city called the most recent demolition work an “emergency demolition.” The plant is among dozens of large structures that Detroit officials have identified to be torn down or renovated.
“The structure is adjacent to an operating business, and creates an imminent danger to that building, its employees and neighborhood residents,” the city says in a news release.
The Packard Automotive Co. built the plant in 1903, but by 1954, the structure had become obsolete and Packard car production was being done elsewhere. The company would go out of business a few years later.
Detroit took over the complex in 1994 when an investor failed to pay taxes. Another company later took ownership but also would lose the property due to unpaid taxes.
Palazuelo bought the complex for $405,000 at a tax foreclosure auction, saying then that he wanted to turn it into apartments, shops and art galleries. The development never happened.
Palazuelo failed to apply for demolition permits by a court-ordered deadline earlier this year. His noncompliance allowed the city to move forward with demolition plans.
Latest from Construction & Demolition Recycling
- Radius to be acquired by Toyota subsidiary
- Pacific Steel selects Danieli as EAF equipment supplier
- Viably, Turmec partner on Ohio installation
- EPA plans to revisit numerous environmental, climate regulations
- Connecticut recycling facility looking to accept C&D faces local pushback
- Fornnax wins Green Innovation of the Year award
- ABC: Construction backlog inches lower, staffing levels expected to grow
- Former detention center in Cleveland set for demolition