Editorial: Demolition of Willow Run plant will reveal potential of property

What kind of market is there for one of the largest buildings in the world?

The answer, according to its liquidators: There isn't one.

The Willow Run Powertrain plant in Ypsilanti Township has been listed for sale by the RACER Trust, which is disposing of all former GM properties not protected in the automaker’s bankruptcy.

The facility itself is massive. It covers 4.6 million square feet, or 83 acres. The average thickness of concrete flooring is 12 inches. The monthly utility bills top $15,000. Just replacing the roof would cost millions, and so far the trust has invested $15 million in upkeep of the vacant building.

The age and size of the building make it functionally obsolete for today’s market for manufacturing facilities. Most prospective buyers, according to RACER, wanted to acquire the property for its scrapping value.

Yet a list of the property’s attributes conveys value and potential: There’s the data capacity; the dedicated power source backup; the 300 acres of industrial zoning; the access to highway, airport and rail transportation; the location near Metro Detroit manufacturing and Ann Arbor-area R&D. It’s also close to the University of Michigan and its research, and near an international border crossing at Windsor.

Those reasons combine to prompt Bruce Rasher, redevelopment manager of RACER Trust, to say describe the property as “the jewel in the crown” of the trust’s former GM listings.

As the trust proceeds with the task of liquidating the unused buildings from the GM portfolio — a total of 89 buildings comprising about 44 million square feet, located in 14 states — it’s now moving forward with demolition of the Willow Run factory. By early August, bids will be awarded.

That decision makes the property more marketable as vacant land, and gives the community hope that redevelopment will follow. This is a positive step.

At the same time, environmental cleanup remains an issue. RACER continues to work on a remediation plan, which also is essential to making the site marketable for redevelopment.

At least $35 million was budgeted for the cleanup of contaminants, which includes 4.1 million gallons of chemicals and solvents contaminating the groundwater beneath the building.

The ability to drive a sale of the Ypsilanti Township property will impact not only Washtenaw County but also much of Southeast Michigan. When home to an operational factory, this property once employed thousands and generated $5 million per year in taxes.

This is a site that, when maximized, could once again become one of the region’s top economic drivers. It should be home to jobs and business opportunity. It’s a place where redevelopment should signify strong potential for turning still more abandoned urban and suburban manufacturing sites into productive work sites.

The building demolition will take Racer and the community one step closer to realizing that vision.

Even as we support the demolition, we do have to add one asterisk: A portion of the property is under contract to the Yankee Air Museum, which has until Aug. 1 to raise funds to obtain a portion of the plant.

YAM seeks to purchase a portion of the former Willow Run bomber plant, which produced the B-24 Liberators during World War II.

Organizers say it’s a part of history that their mission drives them to preserve.

They need $6 million, and raised $3.3 million by late last week.

“Time is short, the fundraising goal ambitious, and the stakes high,” organizers said.

This is a group that saved part of its collection when fire tore through a former building - members raced into the burning structure to move the historic aircraft to safety.

There’s no risk to life and limb with this endeavor, but the museum’s advocates make a strong case that history is at stake.

We salute this effort and wish them well.