Article author:
Associated Press
Corey Williams
Detroit (AP) — One of the first things that 84-year-old Mahary Wilson sees when he leaves his home on the eastern side of Detroit. Brick, steel and concrete skeletons from the long vacant Associated Press factory approaching the neighborhood.
Built in the early 1900s and mass-produced luxury cars until the 1950s, this huge complex was once one of the jewels of the city's industry, but is now a city devastation. It is one of the leading examples in Japan. In a better time in Detroit.
"I'll deal with that," Wilson, who has lived within the factory screaming distance since 1969, recently said from behind her front security screen door. rice field. "I'm used to it. I'm not paying any attention."
Detroit tackles the problem of devastation eight years ago after breaking out of the bankruptcy of the largest municipality in US history. In the meantime, we destroyed more than 20,000 abandoned houses. The work is underway, but it is largely covered by federal funding, and the city still understands how to pay for much more expensive demolition, or abandoned or dilapidated apartments, factories, etc. You need to find a developer to reuse the scores of the huge obtrusive ones.
This issue is not unique to Detroit. Baltimore and Dayton, Ohio are one of many cities trying to get rid of old buildings. But it can be the most prominent in Detroit. That's because white middle-class families departed into the suburbs and beyond, and declined relatively rapidly during the decades of white flight, when cities lost more than half of their population.
Like the Packard factory, many factories in Detroit were near the workers' homes. As the buildings declined and were devastated, so did Wilson's neighborhood and others in the city.
"It's absolutely obvious to me. The old industrial land was closed for white flight," said Andre, a fellow of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, based in Washington. Perry said.
"Often blacks moved in because of their low asset value and wanted some development to come their way," he added. "If you need development costs to go to the Black Space, it's hard to get."
If Mayor Mike Duggan gives way, a 3.5 million square foot, 40 acre packard factory Some of them will be demolished by the end of the year. Other parts will be redeveloped. This is one of the 100 large buildings that the city has identified as demolished or refurbished.
“This symbolizes our industrial challenges,” said Antoine Bryant, Detroit's Director of Planning and Development. The simplest solution would be to demolish it, he said, but "how can I add it to the city instead of just robbing it?"
Bryant has pointed out a $ 134 million plan to redevelop the former Fisher Body 21 car factory on six floors into more than 400 apartments and retail spaces.
Jason Hackworth, a professor of geography at the University of Toronto, is skeptical of plans to preserve the wreckage of the Packard factory and believes Fisher Body 21's fate will be a devastating ball. ..
"Packard should probably have been demolished decades ago," he said.
"No other city has more abandoned industrial and commercial facilities than Detroit .... Sure, I don't know anything about the size of the packard factories in other cities," Hackworth adds. I did. "Developers don't have the money to develop or demolish it."
In 2013, Peruvian developer Fernando Palazuelo real estate for $ 405,000 in a tax foreclosure auction. I bought. His plan to restore and reopen it in an apartment or shop did not come true. The future of the factory is now in the hands of the city.
Parazuelo says, "Since I bought it from foreclosure in 2013, I haven't done much except collecting over $ 1 million in unpaid drainage, property taxes and devastation tickets." Chuck Raimi said. City agency advisor.
"The city intends to completely remove the community from this large and devastated complex," Raimi continued. "As part of that, the city has demolished more than 100,000 square feet of its existing plant and plans to demolish the rest later this year that it does not plan to save for redevelopment."
The Associated Press was unable to contact Parazuero for comment.
Still, the Packard factory is not the most famous ruins in Detroit. The title once belonged to the approximately 20-story Michigan Central Station in the city's Corktown district. Ford Motor Company purchased the building a few years ago, transforming the buildings and properties around the station into a future hub for mobility and innovation.
Dayton plans to demolish the 129-year-old building that was the Wright brothers' first bike shop.
"This is a dangerous building, and the front façade is starting to separate from the building, putting danger on pedestrians and cars," said Dayton's Head of Planning for Neighborhood Development. Toddkinsky says. "Some engineering studies recommend dismantling and no developers are willing to pursue redevelopment."
2016, Maryland and Baltimore Officials have announced plans to destroy more than $ 93 million in ruined buildings and repair other buildings.
In the East Baltimore district, where about 70% are black, efforts to redevelop two major devastated areas have proven successful in recent years.
Yard 56, with shops, office space and lofts, was built in 1911 and was developed on the premises of an abandoned porcelain and pottery factory in 2006.
Former lithograph factory We also discovered a new life.
"It was in an economically depressed area and was open for years," said Colin Tarbert, president and chief executive officer of the Baltimore Development Corporation. Now reopened, in addition to many new companies, there are nonprofits and construction training centers housed there.
Brookings Institution says that plans for such buildings, whether demolished or diverted, should lift the black community in which they are located. Tokoro Perry said.
"It takes the city's efforts to attract and hire developers to rethink the image site that the community wants," he said. "To use as much power as possible to say that blacks and black communities are important, we need local government and neighborhood leaders, and by the way, you will get your return. Just add it and it will grow. "
Some people, like crystal glass, wonder why it takes so long.
Glass opened a social club in 2009 behind the Packard factory in Detroit. She doesn't know if redeveloping it or destroying it will help her business.
"I just want to see something else," Glass said.
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Williams is a member of the AP's racial and ethnic team.