Signature Associates

City of Detroit Unveils Plans for $50M Redevelopment of Packard Plant Site

 Posted By: DBusiness on December 2, 2025.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

Interested parties should contact Packard Park’s leasing representatives John Boyd or Joe Stack of Signature Associates. Additional information can be found at packardpark.com.

Long a symbol of Detroit’s decay, the abandoned Packard Plant site on the city’s east side is getting a new lease on life with the announcement that the south 28 acres, approximately half of the site, will be redeveloped by Packard Development Partners, along with the city of Detroit, Detroit Economic Growth Corp., the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation, and the Detroit Regional Partnership.

Packard Park will be a mixed adaptive-reuse Public-Private-Philanthropic Partnership that will include a new 393,000-square-foot, Class-A industrial building designed to create 300 permanent manufacturing jobs, plus construction jobs.

The project also will feature a renovated 117,000-square-foot legacy Albert Kahn Building located on the south side of E. Grand Blvd., between Concord and Bellevue streets, for community, culture, housing, and creative uses, including:

• 42 “make/live” affordable housing units.
• Detroit’s first indoor skate park.
• MODEM – the Museum of Detroit Electronic Music.
• Creative community programming areas.
• More than two acres of indoor/outdoor public space and recreation areas.

Several details remain to be worked out regarding the development, which is estimated to cost north of $50 million.

Packard Development Partners is led by Mark Bennett and Oren Goldenberg, both of whom have track records of success with development in Detroit. Since 2014, Bennett has been involved in developing six multi-family and mixed-use developments across the city.

Goldenberg led and co-owns Dreamtroit, the mixed-use redevelopment of the original Lincoln Motor factory located south of Henry Ford Hospital’s campus. Both say Packard Park will create jobs, preserve history, establish new housing options, and build culture and community.

“Five years ago, the Packard Plant was still standing as Detroit’s most iconic ruin, continuing to drag down the surrounding neighborhood. It took an incredible amount of work to gain title to the property and tear down everything that could not be saved in hopes for a day like this,” says Mayor Mike Duggan. “A challenging development like this takes people who think outside of the box to create something really special and that is what Mark and Oren have done here.”

The project’s nonprofit partner, the Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation, will be Packard Park’s fiduciary in connection with project’s philanthropic capital campaign for the legacy Kahn building, which had faced demolition before the Packard Park plan was created.

The former Packard plant site is the birthplace of Albert and Julius Kahn’s pioneering reinforced-concrete system, which reshaped industrial engineering worldwide. When built, it was the largest industrial facility worldwide with more than 3 million square feet and over 36,000 employees.

Funding for the project is expected to come from a layered financing capital “stack,” including equity investment, commercial debt, philanthropy, and various tax credits, along with state and local economic development tools.

“Where other efforts have stalled, we feel momentum and a spirit of collaboration to finally redevelop the Packard site as Packard Park,” says Bennett.

Goldenberg adds, “As stewards to the city, we will work together with neighbors, creators, and our P4 partners to complete this purpose-driven development that will bring culture, housing, and jobs to the city for this generation and beyond.”

The developers expect the project to be complete by 2029.