Duggan Announces $66M Redevelopment Plan Of Vacant AMC Site

DETROIT — Mayor Mike Duggan announced Thursday a $66 million redevelopment agreement for the long-vacant American Motors HQ building on the city's westside, according to a news release.

NorthPoint Development plans to clear the site, which has been vacant since 2010 to build a new 728,000-square-foot facility on the 56-acre site. The new employment center is expected to employ over 300 permanent workers, Duggan and officials from NorthPoint Development said.

The general development plan of the proposed site is framed by Plymouth Road on the south, I-96 on the north, Strathmoor to the west and the Conrail tracks behind Shirley Street to the east.

"One by one, we are taking down the massive vacant buildings that for too long have been a drain on our neighborhoods and our city’s image and putting something new in their place," Duggan said. "We’re seeing that happen now at the former Cadillac Stamping Plant where Northpoint is building a new parts facility for Lear, we’re about to see them do it again here at the former AMC headquarters. I expect we will announcing plans for other such sites in the city very soon."

The agreement specifies that the city would sell the city-owned land, including the former AMC site and 26 residential parcels, to NorthPoint Development for nearly $5.9 million. Northpoint will also undertake environmental remediation and demolition of the existing AMC complex and that cost would be credited against the purchase price, officials said.

The new facility, which would become a new automotive parts supplier, could open in late 2023 or early 2024 if plans are approved in early 2022, demolition could begin in late 2022 and construction could begin by the middle of 2023, officials said.

The project will require various public approvals, including the approval of the land sales by the Detroit City Council, the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, and the Detroit Land Bank Authority, officials said.

"Whether it is a 66-million-dollar investment like the AMC site or a Detroit homeowner investing a hundred-dollars in a Side Lot, each property the Detroit Land Bank Authority sells makes a positive impact on neighbors and helps fulfil our mission to restore blighted, vacant property to productive use," Saskia Thompson, executive director of the Detroit Land Bank Authority said. "The land bank is proud to support the City’s efforts to secure redevelopment opportunities like this which create good jobs and improve quality of life for neighbors."