A piece of history is up for sale. The former Ford Motor Company Sales and Service Building that was part of the Highland Park Ford Plant is for sale according to a DBusiness report.
The Sales and Service building offers 54,000 square feet of space across four stories. The lot size is 147,668 square feet. Interior shots of the building show it is in disrepair.
DBusiness
A lot of history happened at 15000 Woodward designed by Albert Kahn. The nearby plant was home to the first moving assembly line and the $5 a day wage.
After being used for the Model T, Highland Park moved on to automotive trim and tractor manufacturing. All production at the plant stopped in 1974.
The Woodward Avenue Action Association is selling it. They purchased it and the executive garage for $550,000 in 2013.
The WA3 had been trying to raise money to preserve the structure and turn it into an Automotive Heritage Welcome Center. It was to include a test track.
The renovation project was to cost $7.5 million but was canceled in 2016.
It is an important part of our region’s history — and world history, frankly. It’s kind of darkly amazing we’ve been so good at ignoring it. Hopefully the building can find a new chapter.
That said, if you want to check out old cars today, you can go check out the Piquette Plant in Detroit.
Note: Although this building is often referred to as the administration building, that was on the property but south on Woodward and demolished years ago. The admin building was labeled as “O” and this sales and service building is “OO.”