Former Delaware auto plant site up for sale

The former GM assembly plant on Boxwood Rd. is back up for sale. (photo via Google Maps)

The former GM assembly plant on Boxwood Rd. is back up for sale. (photo via Google Maps)

The former GM plant on Boxwood Rd. was once to be the future of Delaware manufacturing jobs. Now, years after Fisker failed to produce one car there, the plant is on the market once again.

The commercial real estate firm CBRE Group is soliciting bids for redeveloping the facility. Wanxiang America bought Fisker Automotive in a $150 million bid in 2014.

The failure of Fisker to return auto manufacturing jobs to Delaware could be one of the biggest disappointments of Governor Jack Markell’s eight years in office, but Markell struck an optimistic tone about what the sale of the site could mean for the state economy. “I will never forget walking into the Boxwood Road facility just hours after the workers there got news from GM that the plant would close down,” Markell said in a statement. “I look forward to this redevelopment project and hope it will ensure a brighter future for the site.”

CBRE is marketing the facility as a prime location for economic development based on its close proximity to major East Coast cities and its connection to major transportation infrastructure. 

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Delaware’s other former auto manufacturing site, the old Chrysler plant in Newark, was purchased by the University of Delaware in 2009. That area has been transformed in the University’s STAR campus, home to businesses like Bloom Energy and the school’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research facilities. 

State Sen. Patty Blevins (D-Elsmere) hopes the future will hold a similar story of rebirth for old GM site. “Like with the STAR Campus in Newark, tech-focused redevelopment plans have the opportunity to propel our state forward and make us a regional leader in the 21st century economy.”

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