The Packard plant then and now

Hope this isn't a repost but it's compelling and sad all at the same time. Interactive photos show then and now images of the once mighty Packard plant in Detroit. Scroll your mouse to the right on each image to see what it USED to look like...

http://www.freep.com/interactive/ar...-Plant-Then-now-interactive-comparison-photos

 

Thanks for posting this, as I grew up near Detroit years ago. It's really sad to see a once thriving industry looking like a ghost town.

---John

 

it looks like a cool place to smoke cigarettes and break stuff.

 

After posting this I noticed the oldish date on the article--never a good thing to look at that AFTER you post! Hope as a result this isn't a repeat for many here... Lots to look at in the pics, but one thing I noticed--TREES growing on the roof?!

 

and drink some tall cans

 

Looks like vandals HAVE been breaking stuff...

 

It is a repost but worth reviewing.
Any wonder Detroit is bankrupt?

 

No more dark satanic mills.... no more smoke stacks belching coal smoke into the sky.... no more soul destroying assembly line jobs.... the poor downtrodden workers are free to open like a flower and develop the best that is in them.

How's that working out anyway?

 

Seems to be working well in China and Korea.

 

Also from the Detroit Free Press is this collection of vintage pictures of the Packard plant.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...0121130&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=211300803&Ref=PH

 

I worked at a Ford dealer a few miles west of there on "The Boulevard" from 67 to 86 when the dealer closed. Except for the Fisher bldg area near Woodward it was a "no mans land" area. Especially near that plant. Not as bad as it is today but its still a waste.

 

Also found this article regarding the current owner of the Packard plant... after reading about this less than stellar character it doesn't leave you with much hope for the place.

http://www.freep.com/article/20121202/NEWS01/312020160/Dominic-Cristini-owner-packard-plant

 

Packard plant by Drone Cam -- amazing four-minute video by Harry Arnold of Drone Detroit captures the ruin better than anything done yet. Even better than the Free Press series, maybe. Amazing footage. LINK:


http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2013/10/30/video-the-packard-plant-by-drone-cam/

 

Some pics of the Packard bldg show that there are still some old Packards rotting away in there.

 

crazy how much has been abandoned to just rott away

 

So cool.. yet eo depressing.

 

Wonder where the Packard grill shape keystone from the bridge ended up?

 

out of work and on welfare

 

wow...those pictures and that video kinda make me ashamed to live in a country that allows things like this to happen and remain in that sad of shape. Some of those pictures look like pictures of German cities in WWII after a bombing raid. It is sad what has happened to Detroit...and the song played in that video could not be more fitting.

 

The first link was posted before, but no big deal.

 

Just found a murded law student from nearby Wayne State University today. Be careful around there

 

Yes, indeed. The plant is fascinating to explore, but. Take a cell phone, use the buddy system...and this is one place where a CCW might be in order.

 

Really great !! thanks for posting but a bit sad But very very good .

 

I think those photos are actually from the piquette/russell st bridge, which is close, but it not in the plant. It's across the street form the old abandoned fischer body plant. I always wondered who owned them. Unfortunately they are pretty much rotted back into the earth at this point.

 

What the Hell Happened?

 

To the plant? Packard stopped building cars there in 1955 and moved out. The complex was then partitioned into a sort of industrial park but was never terribly successful and maintenance was deferred for decades. It was never more than 40 or 50 percent occupied, mainly with warehousing, car and boat storage, chemical processing, tire reclaiming, recycling, every kind of marginal business you can imagine. In the '90s the deterioration began to accelerate and even the identity of the owner came into dispute. It took many years for the authorities to sort all that out and seize the property for back taxes.

Since then, a series of developers have been making a play for the site with various pitches, but that's been essentially a clown show. Since the site cleanup is estimated at $20-25 million and the land is worth a fraction of that, it's hard to imagine legitimate developers having much interest. A fellow is supposed to hand over a check for $2.2 million today. We'll see how that goes.

 

Thanks for all the cool links. That video is awesome. Sad to see the place in such ruin though.

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Packard plant in the post-bridge years...looking northwest across the corner of East Grand Boulevard and Concord Street.

 

The same angle, back then, and more recently (stolen from the internet):

 

And oddly enough, here is the rendering made up by/for the current buyer, showing some of the planned use -- residential, retail, etc.