Located in Norwood, Ohio, the Norwood Assembly Plant built General Motors cars between the years of 1923 and 1987. When it first opened, the plant employed 600 workers and was capable of producing 200 cars per day. At its peak in the early 1970s it employed nearly 9,000. Norwood is a suburb of Cincinnati. The first car rolled off the assembly line on August 13, 1923, a Chevrolet Superior. Among the cars built at Norwood were the Chevrolet Bel Air, Biscayne, Impala, Nova, Caprice, Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, and the Buick Apollo. The plant grew to cover an area of approximately and had of space under roof. The facility had a number of labor disputes, including a 174-day-long strike in 1972, at the time the longest strike in GM history. As a result of the strike, 1,100 partially completed cars were scrapped or otherwise disposed of because it was not economically feasible to update them to the more stringent 1973 vehicle standards. After the strike GM opted to move Nova production away from Norwood to protect the model from future labor problems. Closing While newer GM plants had a one-story design, the Norwood plant had a less efficient three-story design. Additionally, the plant could not expand outward as it was surrounded by an interstate highway to the north, railroad lines to the east and west, a business district on a State Route to the west and a residential neighborhood to the south. Citing its obsolescence, expense, and high worker absentee rate, GM announced on November 6, 1986, that the Norwood Assembly Plant would be closed along with ten other GM facilities. The plant produced its last vehicle on August 26, 1987, a Chevrolet Camaro. That date came to be known in Norwood as Black Wednesday. At the time of its closing the plant employed approximately 4,200 workers. Most of the plant was demolished in 1989. The main factory building sat vacant for nearly 10 years. The City of Norwood, having relied on the carmaker for nearly 35 percent of its taxbase, faced economic catastrophe and possible bankruptcy. The City wished to re-develop the site due to its unique and attractive location - at the juncture of Ohio State Route 562 (Norwood Lateral Expressway), U.S. Route 22 (Montgomery Road/Ohio State Route 3) and Ohio State Route 561 (Smith Road). Easily accessible from all directions, Norwood saw an opportunity to revitalize itself. Norwood