Yahoo Autos Packard Auto Plant Is the Largest Abandoned Factory in the World. It's Finally Coming Down
A van drives under the bridge that crosses East Grand Boulevard connecting sections of the abandoned Packard auto assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. That bridge later fell into the street in 2019.
The gigantic Packard Auto Plant has been a 3,500,000-square-foot cancer in the heart of Detroit’s Eastside since the brand shuttered the facility in 1956 — two years before the brand would also disappear. After decades of neglect, the looming ruin is finally coming down.
Frequently cited as the largest abandoned factory in the world, crews started on phase II of the plant’s demolition Tuesday by taking down two parcels of the plant that have belonged to the city for a few years. The first section came down in September on 6199 Concord St. — considered one of the most dangerous and dilapidated parts of the abandoned site.
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The city seized the rest of the abandoned factory from perpetually absent owner Peruvian investor Fernando Palazuelo, who failed to pay back taxes or do basic maintenance to secure or improve the site. A court order gave Palazuelo 90 days to demolish the site back in April 2022, after it was deemed dangerous to the general public. Palazuelo had 90 days to clean up the site. When he failed to comply with the court order — or, indeed, even appear in front of a judge — demolition duty fell to the city. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan vowed Palazuelo will pay for the multi-million dollar project. From the Detroit News:
“He is under court order to pay for this,” Duggan said. “We’ll certainly go after every asset he has in America and if we figure out how to go after his assets in Peru, we’re going do that too. We have a clear legal strategy. You’ve probably gathered by now, this didn’t happen by coincidence. He fought every step of the way. He broke every single promise. … I’m pretty confident the courts will continue to back us up.”
