Historic Albert Kahn warehouse in Poletown East for sale for $5M

The Grand Trunk Warehouse & Cold Storage in Poletown, designed by renowned Detroit architect Albert Kahn in 1929, is for sale. It’s currently owned by Arte Express, the development company of the Spanish-born Fernando Palazuelo, who has a penchant for buying old industrial buildings. He also owns the nearby Packard Automotive Plant.

The ten-story, 528,000-square-foot industrial warehouse sits in the shadow of the GM-Hamtramck Poletown Assembly Plant, north of Eastern Market and east of the Cultural Center, which will soon get a major redesign.

In 2017, Palazeulo told the Detroit Free Press that he planned on converting the building into a parking garage and storage facility. Now, according to Crain’s Detroit Business, he’s selling it to raise capital for the much more expensive redevelopment of the Packard Plant.

The realtor describes the building, which is zoned “intensive industrial,” as a “prime redevelopment opportunity” suited for an industrial, storage or mixed-use project. Any kind of work on the building would obviously be a challenge, given the incredible expense necessary to buy and then redevelop, not to mention the lack of foot traffic in the area.

Nonetheless, if you’ve got a lot of money and a bold plan, perhaps you’ll be interested. 1921 East Ferry Street is listed through Friedman Real Estate for $4.95 million, which also included an offering book.

Friedman Real Estate