Neither looks like they’d have much to do with automotive manufacturing or even the so-called arsenal of democracy, but a pair of buildings along the Middle River Rouge west of Detroit once played a role in both and may soon become part of a broad redevelopment project now that the county that owns them has put them up for sale.
Wayne County’s decision to sell off the former Ford Village Industries factories that it owns comes as part of a larger plan to create a greenway of parks and trails along the Middle Rouge, according to a recent article in the Detroit Free Press. However, instead of restoring the factories that once ran on hydroelectric power generated by damming up sections of the Middle Rouge, county officials are hoping local businesses will revive the plants.