Operational through almost all of the 20th century to build Tri-Shield brand vehicles at its massive, sprawling complex, the Buick City industrial site in Flint, Michigan is now being renovated for new businesses – the first of which to lease part of the renewed site, Victory Packaging, is a GM supplier.
Victory Packaging has signed a five-year lease for 166,000 square feet of one of the buildings at the former GM factory hub, Crain’s Detroit Business reports, with a planned staff of 30 employees.
Exactly what Victory is supplying to GM is not specified, with the development plan referring vaguely to “designing, producing and delivering tailored, cost-optimized packaging solutions.” However, it’s extremely likely the company’s operations are related to General Motors’ HD pickup assembly operations in Flint.
GM announced a $579 million investment in its Flint Engine plant back in January 2023. The investment was related to production of the automaker’s sixth-generation gasoline-powered Small Block V8 engine and related components. In summer 2023, the company pumped a billion dollars into the Flint Assembly plant, where HD versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup are produced, and the Flint Metal Center facility.
Renovation of Buick City for commercial use began back in 2018 at a cost of $23 million. Funding came from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF). The property received multiple purchase offers the same year. However, the presence of PFAS toxins at the site halted these offers a few months later in autumn 2023.
Sheldon Neeley, the major of Flint, Michigan described the lease as “the very, very first step into reincarnating that space for new work, for new employment life, and new opportunities” for the city’s residents. Possibly engaging in some wordplay based on the name of Victory Packaging, the mayor also said “we’ve been planning for our victory and we’re here now.”
Complete revitalization of the Buick City site is expected to cost around $300 million, with Ashley Capital handling the redevelopment.
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Comments
Keeping new auto jobs in Michigan rather than Mexico! Hope to see more of it.
So what happened to the PFAS issue?
Is the assembly line still there? Been in there as a supplier.
No, unfortunately everything was demolished to the foundation. gm: Mark of Destruction
The only building still standing from the old Buick days is the old Local 599 union hall, which is now Buick City Event Center.
GM used to employ 95,000 people in Flint, Michigan, and now they employ only 5,000 people there. They first built up a city and community and then successfully destroyed it, thank you, GM CEO Roger Smith.
Unfortunately this scenario played out in dozens of gm cities and in other non gm cities. Our government doesn’t help with regulations that drive business overseas.
Look for the Union Label!
It’s not just GM or the automotive sector. US Steel in Gary essentially did the same thing.
GM certainly deserves a great deal of blame for their share loss and the resulting downsizing but the real blow for Flint was the 1998 wildcat strike that essentially shut down the company for two months. It was UAW President Steve Yokich against Don Hackworth (head of GM global manufacturing). Two old school bulls in a China shop who despised each other.
Both the UAW and GM deny the strike greatly accelerated GM’s exit but having been in the meeting at MCD (Midsize Car Division) post strike where Don Hackworth stated they were pulling out it was very clear there was no going back. The strike was the final straw.
In large part they pulled out and Flint was doomed.
It’s a real shame that the Buick City Assembly Plant is gone. It’s where many Buicks for decades were built including the LeSabre. What GM should really do is to reinvest in Flint and bring Buick manufacturing back to Flint and Assemble All Current and Future Buick products there. Move the Encore GX assembly from Korea and Envision assembly from China to Flint including the Enclave which is assembled in Lansing. They also should build All of the Engines and Transmissions for Buicks in Flint as well across the street from the Assembly Plant. Lastly Buick and GM should build a Multi Million and Multi story All New State of the Art Buick Global Headquarters in Flint as well and have Buicks design studios inside the headquarters as well as a showroom to display Old and Classic Buicks including their Concept Cars. Bring Buick back to its hometown where it originated from and where it was founded in 1899 and 1903 as Buick Motor Company by David Dunbar Buick and William Durrant. Make Buick Great again and make it The New Symbol For Quality in America like it once was.