Fisher 21 Plant

[wolverine]

This 6 story factory has sat abandoned for sometime. Is there still plans for a data farm, or was that scrapped? And is there any plans for proposals for it? Who owns it? GM, the city?

[RustTown]

I was just thinking about this plant, especially after watching the Olympics and seeing what Turino did with the old Fiat plant. Talk about a creative reuse.

[Michi]

What did they do to it?

[RustTown]

This, the Lingotto:

Built from 1916 to 1923, this historic car factor is now a convention center, shopping center, concert and theater hall, hotel...It was renovated in 1989.

BTW, the Lingotto hosted speed-skating in Torino last week in the Oval Lingotto.

They also use to test cars on the roof, on the rooftop track.

Turin and Detroit should really be sister cities, both are the center of their countries automobile industry. Each citiy peaked at a similar population. Both are nearly the same size at the moment, and lost a considerable amount of people (both are still declining in that regard). The difference is that Turin in in Europe, so sprawl hasn't hit it like Detroit, and Turin was also once the capital of Italy for a short time so it has a very "Civic" feel to it.

[BarGal]

That rooftop track is cool, but it doesn't look too safe...I can see cars plunging off the sides of that thing.

[Zissou]

I dont think our leaders and developers have the creativity to pull something like that off in Detroit. It looks like a very cool development though.

[RustTown]

If even doing only half of what they did with the Lingotto, Fisher and many other plants would still look great and fuction just as good with a creative reuse proposal.

[Ramcharger]

Trappers Alley was a creative reuse of a historic industrial building. It was beautifully transformed into a retail and entertainment arcade. It was located in one of the few thriving entertainment districts in the city and it flopped miserably. Even now, taken over by Greektown Casino it

[wolverine]

I say just turn it into an office building or lofts. The data farm probably would have worked, but no one would have really occupied the building except computers lol. I'm sure the lofts would be difficult to market. I mean, a view of an interchange isn't the most interesting.

I wish someone would come along and clean the building out so it will look more presentable to developers. The wooden blocks on the floor have popped up and are rotting. All of the pipes, electrical and ductwork hanging from the ceiling is starting to make its way to the floor. Also, if anybody has entered the building from the SE corner they would notice that someone knocked out a steel column, and whatever is above is starting to come down.

[RustTown]

A residential reuse would be great, but the building currently sits on an island of sorts, surrounded by a sea of underutilized and vacant properties. I think it's too removed from any viable neighborhood to be an effective reuse.

Though, as you know, they are redoing an old car parts factory here in Lansing that sits in not the best neighborhood. The Prudden Motor Wheels Factory is be converted into 150 apartment lofts:

In the distance:

Badly stitched pan of the west face:

[wolverine]

Well, I think if extra residential development was added, like the units nearby Prudden, Fisher could get a better chance.. Actually, some new units have already been constructed nearby making it less of an area exclusively for industry. Fortunately, these aren't noisy or pollutive industries either. I know one of the buildings across the street is for the Henry Ford Hospital Records.