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Mayor Duggan and Mayor-elect Sheffield announce the project.
The Packard Plant on Detroit's east side, which went from being a massive car plant that employed tens of thousands of workers to a symbol of the city's decay, is headed for a major uplift -- and a new chapter in the city.
City officials, including Mayor Mike Duggan and Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield, on Monday announced at a press conference a 28-acre redevelopment of the southern half of the former plant that includes:
- 42 “make/live” affordable housing units
- Detroit’s first indoor skate park
- MODEM – the Museum of Detroit Electronic Music
- Creative community programming areas
- More than two acres of indoor/outdoor public space and recreation areas
- A nearly 400,000-square-foot new building that would house manufacturing, bringing 300 new full-time jobs
The plant, which was designed by Albert Kahn, closed in 1956. Over the years, the city razed much of the massive complex.
Developers Mark Bennett (left) and Oren Goldenberg
“Five years ago, the Packard Plant was still standing as Detroit’s most iconic ruin, continuing to drag down the surrounding neighborhood," Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement. "It took an incredible amount of work to gain title to the property and tear down everything that could not be saved in hopes for a day like this."
“A challenging development like this takes people who think outside of the box to create something really special and that is what Mark and Oren have done here.” The developers, Packard Development Partners, is led by Mark Bennett and Oren Goldenberg.
Officials describe the proposed project as a 28-acre mixed adaptive-reuse that will include the Public-Private-Philanthropic Partnership (P4), led by Packard Development Partners, LLC, alongside the City of Detroit, DEGC, the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation, and the Detroit Regional Partnership (DRP), which provided significant acceleration through its VIP Site Readiness Grant Program.
A city press release said Bennett has been instrumental in developing six multi-family and mixed-use developments across the city. Goldenberg led and co-owns Dreamtroit, a mixed-use redevelopment of the original Lincoln Motor factory.
Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield issued a statement:
“For more than 60 years this site sat idle. Today, we declare that those days are over. The Packard Park will be a symbol of what is possible when Detroiters, public partners, and committed developers work together with imagination and purpose."
