Old General Motors Assembly Plant, Massachusetts

For more than 40 years, the General Motors assembly plant in Framingham was a major employer in the region, and with 150 acres of enclosed space, it was one of the largest industrial manufacturing sites in the state. When the plant closed in 1989, it became a transfer station for GM's leased vehicles, while the company and the town thought about what to do with it. In 1994, Adesa, a large national automobile auction company, bought the site, and now stages "the nation's largest indoor auction" inside the former plant. Even though the Indiana-based company (owned by the electrical utility Minnesota Power and Light) has torn down half of the plant, they can store over 10,000 cars inside, and hold dealer and public auctions which can attract thousands of people a week.