Competition for the property was intense. The Indianapolis-based developer, which made the purchase with equity backing from Stockbridge Real Estate Fund LP of San Francisco, faced 20 other bidders for the 100-acre property. The steep $765,000-per-acre cost demonstrates the extreme desirability of what could easily be a white-elephant property in lesser locations.

The high sales price is especially impressive in that it represents land value only. Duke plans to raze the existing buildings and replace them with an undetermined amount of retail and light industrial/distribution uses. The inclusion of retail helps justify the purchase price, says Duke vice president of communications Joel Reuter. The location has already proved itself viable as a retail destination. Cappelli Enterprises Inc. of Valhalla, NY redeveloped the former Linden Regional Airport, which neighbors the GM property, as the 619,000-sf Aviation Plaza shopping center.

As is not uncommon with older Rust Belt properties, redeveloping the entire site with retail or other higher-paying commercial or residential use was not politically feasible. Anxious to preserve at least some of the blue-collar jobs lost to closure of the 73-year-old GM plant, both the city and state pressured to keep the bulk of the site industrial. The facility, which closed three years ago, employed 6,000 people at the height of operations and 1,700 at the end.