Machinery at GM plant on block
Online auction will continue for several weeks as Janesville facility demolished
About 350 industrial robots and hundreds of other pieces of machinery and equipment in the shuttered former General Motors plant in Janesville are being auctioned by the factory’s new owner.
The auction comes as demolition of the sprawling, 4.8 million-square-foot factory begins — a first step toward preparing the site for redevelopment.
The online auction began Monday morning and will continue over the next several days. Bids will close on a staggered basis next week.
Bidding will close April 23 on the ABB robots that helped GM crank out Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban SUVs and GMC Yukons at the plant, the company’s oldest until it halted production in December 2008.
Bidding will close April 24 on electrical controls, drives and transformers; on April 25 for pumps and motors; and on April 26 for overhead cranes, shop equipment and plant support gear.
Would-be bidders may inspect the machinery at the plant by appointment with the auctioneer, Evansville, Ind.-based Professional Industrial Appraisals LLC. Bids must be submitted through an online platform provided by Aucto.com of Buffalo, N.Y.
Commercial Development Co. Inc., of St. Louis, bought the former GM plant in December for $9.6 million.
Since 1990, Commercial Development has bought and redeveloped or sold more than 200 pieces of problem real estate, including shuttered factories, power plants, quarries and chemical plants.
The Janesville purchase marks at least the fifth former General Motors plant Commercial Development has acquired.
More than 5,000 people working for GM and its local suppliers lost their jobs as the Janesville factory was closed.