The Packard Factory was designed by Albert Kahn and built in 1907.

"The Packard Motor Car Co. responded to the growing demand for trucks by Americans. The plant built trucks and luxury automobiles. Plans had been made to move the plant to Detroit from Warren, Ohio the previous year. Under the leadership of company President Henry Joy, the plant built the cars that soldiers drove to battle against Germans in World Wars I and II, were used to fight Pancho Villa in Mexico and transported the country's first baby boomers. For a time, it remained the largest independent automaker in Detroit before merging with Studebaker Motors in 1956."
Detroit News, 6S, May 5, 1999.

The last Packards rolled off the assembly line on June 25, 1956. The 3.5-million-square-foot plant which covered over 35 acres of land and strattled East Grand Blvd. on Detroit's east side, was later subdivided by eighty-seven different companies. The City of Detroit seized control of the facility in November 1998 for non-payment of taxes. Demolition began in January, 1999 but was halted in June after a lawsuit was filed by a tenant. In 2000, Dominic and Robin Cristini of Packard Motor Properties paid back taxes on the property and regained it from the City. They planned to turn it into a tourist destination. (Detroit News, p. 6S, November 22, 2000)

SOURCE: American Odyssey   p. 430
Read more about Albert Kahn and the history of his company.