The last we heard, General Motors’ former Buick City industrial site was poised for $23 million worth of investment for renovations. However, that’s not a done deal, and the RACER Trust, established after GM’s bankruptcy to manage former properties, has given interested parties an April 27 offer deadline.
RACER hopes the deadline will expedite the process and provide just a little pressure for interested parties to step up and make a final commitment, according to an MLive report published last week.
“We are issuing this call for offers now in response to what we’ve seen as a pretty strong, steadily increasing interest in the Buick City property,” said Bruce Rasher, redevelopment manager for RACER Trust.
Rasher said the tactic has spurred the sale of other GM properties in the past, and right now, there are multiple parties interested in the whole 364-acre site and some interested in portions of the land. When the trust took over the properties, it attached two goals to any sale: restore jobs and a tax base for the affected communities. GM permanently closed Buick City in 2010.
So far, two companies have purchased 50 acres of Buick City:Â American Spiral Weld Pipe and Lear Corp. They’ve created 450 new jobs, though it’s a fraction of the jobs lost in the area.
Comments
reopen the plant and assemble all Buicks in the UNITED STATES using US steel -aluminum – and American workers . boy what a concept
Funniest comment I’ve seen so far today! GM stopped building cars at Buick City 1999. You have no concept of the type of money GM would have to dump in that ghost town. Wishful thinking at best.
Its all mostly vacant lots, Buick City had a good run, 100 years almost, very impressive for an industrial facility, but time moved on. Most cars today aren’t built in plants that pre-date WW1.
Yes but the Pro immigrations, anti american worker Democratic party will screem if Trump put a tarrif on importing more than say 50,000 vehicles from outside the US per year. Let’s look at that . Why did Buick city close? Gm used Clinton backed NAFTA to all GM to close Buick city and build multiple plants in low cost, almost no envirmental protection laws MEXICO. And now GM will bring in more and more cars from CHINA and close even more US facilities . NOT A TRUMP FAN but we should put additional restrictions on importation of vehicles .
Your reasoning is flawed. “Gm used Clinton backed NAFTA to close Buick City and build multiple plants in low cost Mexico” GM operates three vehicle assembly facilities in Mexico. Of the three, Ramos was built in 1981, San Lois Petosi opened in 2008, and Silao opened in 1996. Silao is the only shop that fits your narrative and they build 1/2 ton trucks not Buicks. If you research Buick City, you would know that most if not all of the car production that left Buick City, went to Lake Orion and Hamtramick Assembly.
I have no problem with GM building all cars in the us! If they make the Toyota Hondas of the world take their manufacturing back to their country and make them export them into the state’s with heavy tariffs!