“Repurposing Former Automotive Manufacturing Sites,” a study commissioned by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, was released in late November by the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR). The map portrays some of the study’s findings.
CAR researchers found that of the 447 automaker and automaker-captive plants that have been in operation across the country since 1979, “nearly 60 percent — 267 total — have closed and only 180 remain in operation at present. Of the plants closed since 1979, 42 percent of the closures were concentrated between 2004 and 2010. Survey responses indicate that 72 percent of closed plants were one of the top three employers in the community when they closed. Nearly a third of the former plants employed more than 2,000 people at the announced time of closure, and over half employed between 400-999 people. Many of these modern facilities were supported by significant public sector investments in transportation and utility infrastructure.”
Of the 139 plants in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, 36 percent closed in the 1980s or 1990s, indicating they have been closed for eleven or more years without being repurposed. “These long-term closures, combined with the concentration of plant closures since 2000, suggest a need for focused attention to assist in repurposing these sites,” said the CAR report. “Whether the resources for this type of intervention are available is a key question.”
But the promise is evident: Of the 267 facilities that closed since 1979, 128 have been repurposed, some for logistics, others for entirely new uses such as retail or housing. Usually such activity restores property values, if not employment levels.
“The number of transitioned sites is now trending upward,” reports CAR. “While very few sites transitioned to a new owner and a new use before 2000, more than 40 percent of the sites surveyed were purchased for a new use between 2008 and 2010 alone.”
