GM president buys Detroit's Fisher Mansion for $1.55M

Detroit's grandiose Alfred J. Fisher mansion in Palmer Woods was bought by the president of General Motors for $1.55 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a Detroit residence.

The same property was put back on the market this summer after plans unraveled to turn it into a dormitory for addiction treatment patients.

The previous owner paid $1.6 million last summer but couldn't overcome neighborhood and city opposition to open his house for recovering addicts.

City land records show that GM President Daniel Ammann and his wife, Pernilla Ammann, bought the 15-bedroom mansion on Balmoral Drive in the upscale historic neighborhood on July 31.

Palmer Woods sits between Highland Park and Ferndale and is still home to some of the city's wealthiest professionals.

Although the sale price wasn't recorded, a woman who identified herself Monday as a partner of the listing's broker said the property sold for its $1,549,000 asking price.

That is a slightly below the $1.6 million the house fetched last year when it sold to the founder of a holistic addiction treatment business called Breathe Life Healing Center. It was the highest price in recent memory for a Detroit house that was still in use as a primary residence.

The center made plans to transform the 1920s-era mansion into a "spiritual retreat" and short-term residence for 12 or more Breathe Life patients getting treatment for drug or food addictions. There were to be life skills workshops, organic meals, yoga, meditations and a live-in staff.

But after encountering opposition from neighbors and Detroit zoning officials, the center's founder, Brad Lamm, abandoned his mansion-conversion plans and put the Fisher mansion back on the real estate market in June.

The Fisher mansion dates to 1926, features an indoor swimming pool and was built for one of the brothers of the Fisher family in the auto body business. The family donated the house in 1968 to the University of Detroit Mercy, which later sold it to a private owner.

Prior to the 2014 sale, the Fisher mansion had previously sold for $125,000 in 1979 and underwent extensive renovations.

A native of New Zealand, Daniel Ammann has been with GM since 2010. He was named president in January 2014. Pernilla Ammann is chief operating officer of a New York ad agency called Mother New York, although staff there says she currently works remotely from Detroit.

A GM spokesman said Daniel Ammann was flying to the Frankfurt auto show and unavailable for comment Monday afternoon.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JCReindl.