A new crowd sourcing campaign to purchase and restore two of the buildings in the Highland Park Ford Plant launched Tuesday.
The Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3) needs $125,000 by September 19th in order to close a deal to purchase the administration building and executive garage. The group wants to turn them into an "international automotive welcome center and visitor attraction," according to a press release.
The Highland Park Ford Plant in certainly used to all the attention. It was built by famous architect Albert Kahn, was the birthplace of the assembly line in 1913, and was the first place to raise wages of $5 a day, which helped create the middle class. The complex, sometimes called the Crystal Palace, is on the National Registry of Historic Places but is totally empty and closed to the public.
WA3 offered $550,000 to purchase the two buildings. According to a press release:
The majority of funds have been secured, including a $400,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation, another $15,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., and $10,000 from the WA3’s reserves. The non-profit still needs to raise matching funds of $125,000 by September 19th to close the deal.
A note on their crowd sourcing page adds:
We are nearly 80% of the way towards our goal! We have $125,000 left to raise by September 19 and every dollar counts. We are in a competition called the RYOT Challenge, and the charity that raises the most money online will win $75,000. In addition, donations to our campaign will go four times farther because the State of Michigan is matching every $1 you donated with $4 up to $400,000.
