AMC’s HQ Will Be Demolished to ‘Erase Ruin Porn’ From Detroit, Says Mayor
Detroit is working to level the historic building and replace it with an industrial park.
The last remnants of the American Motors Corporation are disappearing from the United States. Its final dealership is working to sell off old stock and could liquidate as soon as 2022. Not long from now, AMC's original corporate headquarters at 14250 Plymouth Road in Detroit could reach the end of the line too, as Detroit's Mayor Mike Duggan wants the derelict office and manufacturing complex demolished to "erase the ruin porn from the city's landscape," as cited by TheDetroit News.
This facility was built in 1926 and 1927 by the Electric Refrigeration Corporation, a forerunner of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Nash joined with Hudson to spawn AMC, which used the building as its World Headquarters from 1954 to 1975, before migrating to Southfield, Michigan. Following Chrysler's buyout of AMC, USA Today reports the building served as an engineering center for Dodge and Jeep trucks until 2009 when those operations were relocated. In 2010, the property was sold according to Left Lane News, first falling into the hands of a scrapper before being foreclosed and resold in 2015 for a mere $500.
Earlier this month, the city reached an agreement for a longer-term plan for the 56-acre site, and according to The Detroit News, it will sell it for $5.9 million to NorthPoint Development. The developer aims to demolish the building and the 26 residential units included in the purchase in late 2022 before committing to a $66 million redevelopment, which will add a pair of new buildings with 728,000 square feet of industrial space. The city and developer alike hope this will attract automotive parts suppliers, which they envision adding more than 300 long-term jobs, in addition to 150 for the facility's construction.
"I am convinced within a couple of years, you're going to see a manufacturing facility employing 300 or 400 people to be a source of employment in this neighborhood instead of a source of embarrassment," stated Mayor Duggan. "Before we're done, we're going to have this same announcement at the Packard Plant and get rid of the rest of the blight in this city."
The sale reportedly has yet to be approved by Detroit's city council, or other municipal authorities, though if all goes well, the redeveloped site could open as soon as late 2023. One can't imagine it'll revert to making AMC parts, though there's already a better place to find those anyway.
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