Looks like all the business over the Banksy might actually yield tangible results, maybe. The company that owns the Packard Plant, where a Banksy painting was removed, is suing the gallery that snatched it. This, in turn, could help the city force the demolition of the blighted, empty, potentially dangerous, and often on fire Packard.
Excerpt from the
Detroit Free Press:
Lawyers for Biosource, which claims to be the 3.5-million-square-foot plant's owner and lists land speculator Romel Casab as its president, contend that the Banksy work was removed without its permission and could be worth $100,000 or more. But Detroit officials say it could help them force Biosource to tear down the structure, which has been a magnet for illegal dumping as well as drug users and students of industrial blight. Demolition costs could exceed $20 million.
Detroit Buildings and Safety Engineering director Karla Henderson says the city has been embroiled in marathon litigation with Biosource over the ownership and condition of the Packard site.
"Now that it is clear and publicly acknowledged who the responsible party is," Henderson told the Associated Press, the city will "hold the property owner responsible for this unsightly and dangerous situation."
Hats off, Banksy! Yours could prove to be a transformational work of art.
Read the entire article
here.
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