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For the second time in seven days, Ford Motor Co. announced that it completed the sale of a closed assembly plant, but the Dearborn automaker remains in the early stages of its effort to find a buyer for its Wixom Assembly plant, which closed just over a year ago.
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On Thursday, Ford said it completed the sale of its Atlanta Assembly Plant in Hapeville, Ga., to Jacoby Development Inc. for an undisclosed price.

On June 5, Ford had said it completed the sale of a plant in Hazelwood, Mo., to Panattoni Development Co. Inc. for an undisclosed price. According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the plant is worth an estimated $50 million.

In Wixom, Ford is talking to several potential buyers but does not know if those talks will yield offers. The 4.7-million-square-foot Wixom plant closed as part of Ford's Way Forward restructuring plan.

"We're a long ways out," said Stefanie Denby, a Ford spokeswoman.

Wixom Assembly produced its first Ford Thunderbird in 1958 and employed more than 5,500 at its peak in the early 1970s. When it closed in May 2007 it employed 1,100.

Craig Morse, managing partner of Hilco Corporate Finance in Chicago, said it's difficult to find a buyer for a factory that is not operating.

"The buyer needs to view it as a way to jump-start some particular project that they are working on," Morse said. "Or it's got to be somebody who has a capacity constraint in an existing plant."

Wixom City Manager Mike Dornan said Ford has moved almost all of the equipment out of the factory.

"You can't find a Ford symbol on that plant over there anymore," he said.

Dornan said interest in the 320-acre site has escalated in recent months, in part due to Ford's progress elsewhere.

"Developers are looking at those plants and that's good for Ford," Dornan said. "Those people that are looking at those other plants are going to look at our plant."

The St. Louis case looks ideal, he said.

Ford closed that 500,000-plus square-foot plant in March 2006. It had been in production for 58 years and employed 1,400 workers.

Panattoni Development plans to demolish the existing structure and build 2.6 million square feet of warehouse, distribution and light-industrial space on the 155-acre site.

Ford's Atlanta Assembly is also being demolished. That plant opened in 1947 and built a variety of models including the Ford Fairlane, Falcon, Thunderbird and Taurus. It closed in October 2006.

Jacoby Development plans to redevelop the 122-acre site adjacent to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport into a so-called aerotropolis -- an aviation-intensive business district that is expected to include office, retail, restaurant and hotel development as well as airport parking.

"Finding a site this large, that close to the airport is somewhat rare," said Scott Condra, senior vice president of Jacoby Development Inc. in Atlanta.

Ford declined to comment further Thursday about its efforts to market the Wixom site or other plants. According to its annual report, Ford has closed or plans to close eight other manufacturing plants.