Duke Rolls Out Details of GM Plant Buy

LINDEN, NJ-Last week, the Indianapolis-based Duke Realty revealed that it had closed on the purchase of the 102-acre former General Motors assembly plant fronting routes 1 and 9 here, buying it from the automaker. Details were sketchy, but more information has emerged about the acquisition and what will happen with the site and its sprawling 2.9 million-sf industrial plant.

For one thing, Duke has revealed that it has an institutional partner in the project, namely the San Francisco-based Stockbridge Real Estate. And while plans aren’t firm, the industrial buildings will be razed to make way for a mixed-use development. Finally, published reports put the sale price at $76.5 million. While declining to confirm or deny that number, “if you were to publish that, we wouldn’t take issue with it,” a Duke spokesman tells GlobeSt.com.

Altogether, there were 21 bidders for the property, which GM used to build cars and, during World War II, fighter planes, before shuttering the facility in 2005 as part of a company-wide restructuring. At its peak, the plant employed 6,000. When it closed, that number had been reduced to about 1,500.