<P> The Packard Automotive Plant is a former automobile - manufacturing factory in Detroit, Michigan where luxury cars were made by the Packard Motor Car Company and later by the Studebaker - Packard Corporation . </P> <P> The 3,500,000 - square - foot (325,000 m), plant was designed by Albert Kahn Associates using Trussed Concrete Steel Company products . It is located on 40 acres (16 ha) of land on East Grand Boulevard on the city's east side . It included the first use of reinforced concrete in the United States for industrial construction in the automobile industry . </P> <P> The Packard plant was opened in 1903 and at the time was considered the most modern automobile manufacturing facility in the world, with skilled craftsmen involved in over eighty trades . The factory complex closed in 1958, though other businesses operated on the premises or used it for storage until the late 1990s . </P> <P> In the 1990s, the buildings were used to host infamous "underground" raves and techno parties, including the Spastik party hosted by Richie Hawtin </P>

When did the packard plant close in detroit