Former American Motors Corp. site sells for $500

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the sale price of the former American Motors Corp. headquarters.

Detroit — The former headquarters of American Motors Corp. sold Tuesday afternoon for a lone $500 bid in the county’s tax foreclosure auction.

The winning bidder, whose name wasn’t immediately available, will also have to pay the facility’s summer tax bill of $160,631. Bidding started earlier this month at $500 and ended there at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The 1.4 million-square-foot facility on Plymouth Road near Schaefer was among the 25,500 properties up for sale during the second round of the Wayne County tax foreclosure auction that ends Thursday.

The massive complex was a hub of Detroit innovation for more than eight decades, but became a dumping ground in just three years, according to a 2013 Detroit News article that highlighted its plight. As recently as 2009, more than 1,000 Chrysler employees worked at the site designing Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Durangos. The complex, which opened in 1927, also was home of Kelvinator, a refrigerator manufacturer.

More than $1 million in taxes was owed when it foreclosed. The county could have foreclosed in 2013, but officials overlooked it because they falsely believed it was tied up in the 2009 Chrysler Group LLC bankruptcy.

Terry Williams, a scrap hauler, acquired the property from another owner who bought it during the automaker's bankruptcy.

By 2013, neighbors told The News they feared he was removing all valuable metals from the facility and turning it into a dumping ground. He told The News he was going to turn it into a home for autistic children and was merely storing clean fill dirt.

cmacdonald@detroitnews.com