[3] With the backing of several trustees including capitalist Thomas S. Lippy and the buyer of his first car, Dr. Frank Bryant, Grant set up shop in a rented storefront at 1407 Fourth Avenue in the heart of downtown.

By the end of 1907, high demand for the Franklin car prompted Grant to expand the garage into an adjoining building at 1422 Broadway and would soon open branch agencies in Tacoma, Olympia, Bellingham and Hoquiam, thus eliminating the need for customers to make the long journey into Seattle.

[7] By the early 1910s, the Seattle Auto Co. had shifted to distributing Stearns-Knight and the popular Maxwell car, which had replaced the Franklin as their flagship product.

[8] With the Maxwell's sustained popularity the company continued to take on new models including the Premier and Chandler car and within a year they were in need of a new location to bring their operations back under one roof.

[9][10] In late 1915, Grant commissioned Norwegian-American architect Sønke Engelhart Sønnichsen to design a 3-story concrete and brick edifice for his newly acquired property at the Southeast corner of Pike Street and 11th Avenue, then occupied by a pair of cottages dating to Capitol Hill's first building boom just after the turn of the century.

All floors were connected by a freight elevator located in the building's Southwest corner, the mechanical room of which extends that portion of the façade above the roofline.

[3] Under Bushnell, they would pivot again to distributing the Paige and down-market Jewett car and would soon take control of the Paige-Jewett's local assembly plant.

In the early 1940s, the building was home to Commercial Linen Company (a garment factory) and the Washington Training Center for the Blind, which taught sewing and basket weaving among other skills.

From the 1980s onward the building would be occupied by restaurants and office space as the neighborhood began to transition away from its industrial roots into a more trendy entertainment district.