THIS IS A REPRINT Originally Published in https://autos.yahoo.com/news/meet-allan-hill--the-man-who-lives-in-detroit%E2%80%99s-abandoned-packard-auto-plant.html by Matt
Hardigree for Yahoo News April 13, 2012
The stay for a man well-known for living among
the apocalyptic ruins of the former Packard Plant has come to an end. Detroit @ 2019
https://vimeo.com/39346092
You gotta see this video. It is @ 7 min long
and belongs to a channel called
This Must Be The Place (thanks Talking Heads: David Byrne)
The video is called HILL
Allan Hill, 74, an auto
body worker, says he was made aware of his pending eviction through a building
closure notice from the city in August. It informed him that he’d have to move
from the warehouse on East Palmer where he’s famously lived and worked for 15
years. He was believed to be the sole legal resident of the former plant.
As a result, he says
he’s been given limited time and access to retrieve items he’s collected over
the years, including tools, vehicles, boats and machinery. He also feels he
hasn’t been given proper notice.
“I haven’t had my day in
court,” said Hill, standing Tuesday outside the graffitied warehouse he’s
called home.
According to city tax
records, the 50,000-square-foot property belongs to 6540 E. Palmer LLC, which
purchased the building from Fat Yu Chan of Grosse Ile for $170,000 in 2015.
Hill said he had agreements with Chan and the current owner to live in the property.
The building’s owner,
Greg Meyer, would not comment when reached by phone on Tuesday.
Dave Bell, director of
the city’s Building Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, said in an
email to The Detroit News on Tuesday that his department closed the unlicensed
business and issued citations to the property owner for “various violations of
property maintenance codes, including health and safety issues due to an
extreme amount of material and waste located around the building.”
“The owner explained he
was not aware of the tenant’s actions, which he informed us were in violation
of the lease,” Bell wrote. “The owner then cooperated to bring the property
into compliance. BSEED is continuing to work with the owner to ensure
continuous compliance with all applicable codes and ordinances, however, the
tenancy issue is solely between the owner and the tenant.”
Hill has served as an
unofficial spokesman for the Packard Plant campus and has been featured in
numerous articles and documentaries about the former industrial site and the
area’s decline. When interviewed by The Detroit News in 2013, Hill was working
on a prototype of cargo bicycles he had plans to market as Packard Bicycles. He
also gave tours to tourists at the Packard Plant.
Allan Hill walks between
the buildings of the Packard Plant on Bellevue St. in Detroit, October 1, 2019.
Hill has been told to vacate the warehouse inside the plant that he has used as
a residence and for storage for 15 years.
“He’s kinda been the guy
that kept it going when nobody else was interested in it,” said Hill’s
attorney, James Lumley. “He kinda adopted this place years and years ago, and
probably through a lot of his efforts, it’s still here. … In the short run, I
think they need to try to show a little bit of compassion for somebody what you
would call the local resident.”
Lumley said Hill didn’t
keep the property neat and that is probably what prompted the city to put
pressure on the property owner.
A large orange building
closure notice dated Aug. 9 had a handwritten note that the property also
contained a junkyard. Since the notice was posted, piles of salvageable and
unsalvageable items have been removed from the property.
“Everybody might not
agree with his nature of lifestyle, but it’s been his home,” Lumley said.
Dressed in blue pants
and a blue T-shirt and wearing a red "Chaplain" hat, the
white-bearded Hill was ready to retrieve items from the warehouse on Tuesday.
He expected the building’s owner to arrive, but as of the afternoon, no one had
shown up. Hill did retrieve a red pickup parked nearby carrying two dirty
mattresses and a chair.
While most of the
grounds outside the property had been cleaned up, three vehicles were parked
inside in various stages of disrepair, including a minivan missing a window and
a car missing a rear wheel that was abandoned by its previous owner. Hill once
had plans to fix each vehicle.
Hill’s departure comes
as another property owner in the area, Peruvian businessman Fernando Palazuelo
and his business Arte Express Detroit, work to clean up the sprawling Packard
Plant site, which includes multiple buildings, one of which neighbors the
warehouse where Hill lived. A groundskeeper was seen Tuesday cleaning debris on
a road that runs between the two buildings.
A for-lease sign hangs
on the side of the warehouse and has been there for about two years, Hill said.
An online listing for the property touts the building as having great natural
light and the potential as a grow operation, art studio, recreational center or
for warehousing.
Hill said he began
living in the warehouse about 15 years ago after plans fell through to purchase
a house on the city’s east side. He said he was working with Chan’s engineer
and construction business when he offered to let him live there.
“It’s been a real
blessing, you know,” Hill said. “I get to meet people from around the world. …
It helped me find myself. I had a suburban attitude; don’t go to Detroit. …
Then I come to a realization we’re all the same. Not everyone had access to
opportunity. That brought me off my high horse.”
Hill said that over the
years, he would fix vehicles in the warehouse. It also became a donation hub
with people dropping off items, such as wheelchairs and crutches, and others
stopping by for things they needed.
Hill said he still lives
in Detroit and is staying in a trailer. He says he hopes to work with youth,
teaching them skills such as welding or how to make repairs to lawnmowers and
bicycles.
“It would be nice to
leave here, but I don’t want to leave getting kicked in the rear at the same
time,” he said. “I’ve got to deal with taking all the stuff I’ve got in there.”
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