In 1984, the Pierce Packing Plant closed its doors, but 40 years later the building is back open as luxury condos for sale. To the president of the Kairo Center condos, Marty Connell, this space was a diamond in the rough. We've been at this about 25 years, and when we bought this place, it was the old Pierce Packing Plant. It was abandoned, Connell said on Wednesday. To me, it was a jewel in the middle of the city of Billings. I was one of the founders, the first president of the Billings Industrial Revitalization District, so this was part of that.The condos, from 1,500 square feet to 3,300 square feet, start at $535,000 and go up to over $800,000. Maybe I'm, at 83, a little callous, but my attitude is if you say, okay, I want to come down here, then first thing I'm going to say to you, do you want to live in an industrial district? Connell said. Then next thing I say, do you want to live in an old packing plant? Now, you can't tell it's an old packing plant.Connell said it's important to offer spaces to live in downtown. Owners of the spaces will park in a parking garage in the bottom of the old plant and will take an elevator up to their floor. You can't have a viable industrial area without housing, Connell said. "(It's for) somebody who wants to live in a very nice condominium that's very secure, that's energy efficient, environmentally sound." Mehmet Casey, the Downtown Billings Association development director, said spaces to live is something needed in the area. "To my knowledge, most everything is almost claimed, meaning occupied, whether it's a rental unit or a purchasable unit, and most everything almost also has a wait list. So we do need to add more to the inventory," Casey said. "Priorities for my board to incentivize and encourage and recruit more of these type of developments that sort of encourage the commercial business activity of the ground level and then residential up top."The Old Town Flats, an apartment complex on First Avenue North, are also now available for lease. "There was just a huge need for housing downtown. And especially in this area, we were right in the middle of Story Montana Avenue. You have the depot. You have 12 restaurants here. You've got the Pub Station right down the street. A lot of activity here that really needed some people to actually live in the area instead of just visiting the area," Max Griffin, the building owner, said. "It's just a total unique building and a total unique environment. We haven't built any new downtown housing ever." There are 36 units for rent that start at $1,295. "I think this appeals to a lot of young professionals, especially from the hospital or who work in the downtown area or who also want to be kind of close to all the action and restaurants around downtown," said Amanda Tracy, the property manager. "We're currently leasing now. We actually moved our first couple of tenants in on the second floor. And we're moving another way then next week."