Destination Pontiac

Lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Brad Oleshansky has big plans for a former General Motors property in Pontiac, Michigan. More specifically, Oleshansky is raising more than $40 million to build an auto enthusiast’s dream destination at South Boulevard and Woodward Avenue. The 80-acre site’s original occupant was the Wilson Foundry that later became the Pontiac West assembly plant, and eventually the General Motors Validation facility that was last open in 2006. The huge property now comprises a 533,000-square-foot building, more than 2,400 parking spaces, a maintenance facility, a wastewater treatment building, and most of it currently sits empty and idle.

Oleshansky and a group of investors have purchased the site from the Revitalizing Automotive Communities Environmental Response (RACER) trust, (the trust markets properties that GM sold off in its bankruptcy) but the arrangement is still contingent on several environmental and engineering issues that are related to the plan for turning the property into a major automotive destination called the M1 Concourse. Oleshansky has said he wants to create a unique destination for car fanatics with the M1 and his plans call for hundreds of “car condominiums,” a 7,000 square-foot member clubhouse, a 40,000 square-foot event center, an automotive-themed restaurant, plus retail, exhibition and office spaces. The site will also feature a mile-long recreational test track complete with a one-third of a mile straightaway, plenty of hairpin turns and a skid pad too. The car condos are described as 1,100 square foot spaces where enthusiasts could store vehicles and enjoy living space too. The developers have likened the M1 project to “every car lover’s dream come true,” and said it will be an active destination that will have a vibrant nightlife, making it a totally different experience than the typical historic automotive museum-type venue.

Described as “an auto project on an auto site in an auto city”, Oleshansky says M1 represents the ultimate car enthusiast destination where both car owners and the public will gather. The test track is also hoped to have many different uses serving multiple private, public and commercial interests. The overall M1 Concourse project represents a $40 million to $60 million dollar investment in the city and as a result, Pontiac’s Mayor Leon Jukowski has been very keen on the project. The Mayor was quoted in the local press as saying that the plan translates to a big boost for the entire community and one that will provide jobs at a property site that would otherwise be very hard to develop. The developers believe the M1 will be a good complement to Pontiac’s rich automotive history and hope that it will also grow into a center of Woodward Dream Cruise activity in the future. In fact, the first phase of the M1 Concourse development is set to open by summer 2014, just in time for the start of the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise.