The Packard Automotive Plant is a former automobile-manufacturing factory in Detroit, Michigan where luxury Packard cars were made by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana.
The 3.5 million square foot plant was designed by Albert Kahn and is located on over 40 acres of land on East Grand Boulevard on the city's east side. It included the first use of reinforced concrete for industrial construction in Detroit.
The Packard plant was opened in 1907 and at the time was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world with skilled craftsmen who practiced over eighty trades. The factory closed in 1958, but the buildings remain standing as of 2012. The City of Detroit has pledged legal action to have it demolished or secured. Dominic Cristini, whose claim of ownership of the property is disputed, is said to be conducting construction surveys in advance of full-scale demolition as of early 2012.
Since its abandonment, the plant has served as a haven for graffiti artists, urban explorers, paintballers and auto scrappers. Scavengers have extensively stripped the buildings of wiring and other building materials.