GM plant sold

Janesville’s General Motors plant has been sold to Commercial Development Company (CDC), according to the Janesville Gazette. The St. Louis-based company announced in September that it had a contract to buy the 4.8-million-square-foot plant and its 300-acre property, but news of the deal’s closing came yesterday, exactly nine years after the last SUV rolled off the line at the former auto plant.

According to CDC’s website, the company is a “privately held, diversified real estate acquisition and development firm whose principal competency lies within the repositioning of underutilized, distressed, or environmentally-challenged properties.” The company’s redevelopment projects have “transformed hundreds of North American sites out of blight and back to productive use.”

The company plans to handle remedial work and then market the plant to industrial tenants or buyers — perhaps even some that could support Foxconn. If buyers don’t step to the plate, CDC could also begin tearing down all or portions of the plant in 2018. More details were being released at a press conference today.