General Motors over the weekend announced the historic Durant-Dort Factory One will be converted into a research and development centre as part of a project intended to connect the site’s rich manufacturing history with the automotive landscape of today.
GM owns the factory located near downtown Flint, MI, and will invest several million dollars to transform the plant into a modern archive intended to house automotive collection currently held at Kettering University. The archive and research centre will occupy the first floor and east wing of Factory One.
The company says the second floor will be converted into a flexible meeting area for GM, community and educational groups to conduct STEM-related research, seminars, and potentially, research. Meanwhile, the high-bay area in the west wing will be converted to house classic vehicles and and artifacts from Flint’s carriage-building era.
“Factory One truly is the epicenter of the automotive industry and, as such, it makes sense to create a world-class archive where anybody can learn how carriage builders in Flint launched the global auto industry,” said Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain.
GM purchased Factory One in 2013 and has since invested over $3-million to repair the exterior and interior.
The investment in Factory One is the latest in a series of investments GM is making in the Flint area. On August 4, GM announced it would spend $877-million to build a new body shop at its Flint plant
, raising total investments to $2.5-billion in Flint in the last six years.