MEDC Helping More Companies Expand, Grow Jobs in Michigan
Governor Granholm announced yesterday the MEDC has helped six companies expand right here in Michigan, creating up to 2,225 jobs and bringing $248.4 million in capital investment. Using the “most aggressive strategy of any state in the nation”, MEDC was able to beat the competition from other states and attract the kind of high-wage jobs and talent that will help Michigan grow into the 21st century economy.
The projects announced-
General Dynamics Land Systems Inc. – Sterling Heights-based GDLS will invest $10 million to expand its operations in Sterling Heights and Shelby Township. The project is expected to create 500 new jobs at the company and an additional 649 spin-off jobs. A state tax credit valued at $43.8 million over 12 years helped convince the company to choose Michigan for the expansion over competing sites in Virginia, Florida and Ontario. To support the project, the city of Sterling Heights has proposed a nine-year abatement worth $185,000. Shelby Township is considering a five-year abatement worth $70,000.
The Detroit News has the details on why GDLS chose Michigan over other locations. Along with the various tax incentives, a well-educated workforce plays a key role.
“Our roots are in Michigan,” said Peter Keating, a GDLS spokesman. “The engineering talent we get from Michigan’s universities continues to give us a very rich source of well-trained, well-schooled engineers that have historically been of great value to our business, decade over decade.”
The company formed in 1982 as a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp. It designs and builds armored vehicles and subsystems for the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and international customers. Some 300 jobs could be added by year’s end, Keating said. The expansion plan also includes more laboratory space and engineering work stations.
The Kalamazoo area will see many new jobs from the two different companies who announced expansions yesterday.
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation – The Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based producer of high-quality fabricated aluminum products for aerospace and high-strength, general engineering, and custom automotive and industrial applications plans to locate a new $80 million state-of-the-art billet casting and extrusion facility in the Midlink Business Park in Comstock Township. The project, pending the company’s final approval of a lease agreement, is expected to create 717 jobs, with an initial 150 directly by the company. A state tax credit valued at $3.7 million over 10 years helped convince the company to choose Michigan for the new facility. To support the project, Kalamazoo-St. Joseph Michigan Works! has pledged up to $280,000 in employee recruitment and job training assistance. The company currently employs 14 associates in Michigan primarily in sales and engineering.
Fabri-Kal Corporation – Kalamazoo-based manufacturer of thermoformed products for the foodservice and consumer goods packaging markets, will invest up to $38.7 million expand and relocate its current manufacturing operations to the former Mead Paper facility in Kalamazoo. The project is expected to create up to 160 new jobs over the next five years and retain 42. A state brownfield tax credit valued at $3.5 million will help the company return the vacant, functionally obsolete facility to manufacturing use.
Both Fabri-Kal and Kaiser are investing money into redeveloping existing space that was currently sitting vacant. From the Kalamazoo Gazette, Kaiser will locate in an old GM plant, and, as stated above, Fabri-Kal will upgrade the Mead Paper site, adding new equipment and jobs over the next several years.
According to Ron Kitchens, chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First, the business will take up about half of the Midlink East building, one of two structures covering 1.6 million square feet of space that were redeveloped from a former General Motors Corp. metal-stamping plant that was closed in the mid-1990s in Comstock Township.
Southwest Michigan First also said the 58-year-old Fabri-Kal Corp. intends to purchase the 387,360-square-foot former Mead Paper Co. facility on Covington Road and invest more than $3.8 million to upgrade the site. The site has been vacant since 2001.
Kitchens said Fabri-Kal expects to invest more than $28.3 million in new equipment over the next five to seven years. The company plans to hire new employees over several years.
The governor’s overseas jobs mission paid off on the next expansion-
Behr-Hella Thermocontrol – The subsidiary of Germany-based Behr-Hella Thermocontrol GmbH, a designer and manufacturer of automotive and truck HVAC electronic controls, will invest up to $7.9 million to establish a new manufacturing facility in Wixom. Last August, the Governor met with company officials in Lippstadt, Germany to encourage the company to grow its presence in Michigan. The State projects up to 159 Michigan related new jobs, including between 32 and 70 directly by the company. A seven-year state tax credit, valued at $825,000, helped win the company’s investment over a competing site in Ohio. The city of Wixom is considering an abatement worth $315,000 over five years to support the project.
Dow Chemical received a brownfield credit, expanding the solar energy industry for the Midland area.
The Dow Chemical Company – A $1.7 million state brownfield tax credit will support the company’s new solar energy initiative announced by the governor last month in her 2008 State of the State address. The company plans to invest approximately $50 million in the project, which is geared to enable solar energy generation materials to be incorporated directly into the design of commercial and residential building materials (Building Integrated Photovoltaic – BIPV). Plans include a 7,500-square-foot addition and the installation of new machinery and equipment in Midland.
Can Hemlock Semiconductor be far behind? Stay tuned.
And finally, for the cities of Battle Creek and Grand Rapids-
City of Battle Creek – State and local tax capture valued at $1.3 million will support the expansion of the W. K. Kellogg Institute for Food & Nutrition Research in Battle Creek by nearly 160,000 square feet. Last month the facility was granted a 10-year Agricultural Processing Renaissance Zone as part of an incentive package approved for Kellogg by the city of Battle Creek and the MEDC. The benefits of the Zone include a ten year (seven-year full and three-year partial) exemption from property taxes on building and equipment located within the Zone. The $54 million expansion ($40 million for the facility expansion and $14 million for equipment) will include additional office space, additional pilot plant space for testing new food products prior to full-scale production, and additional parking.
City of Grand Rapids – Developer Stratus Properties LLC will use $333,750 in local and school capture and private investment of $4.5 million to strip out, completely renovate and build two stories of residential space on top of the 52-year-old Park Professional Building at 345 State Street S.E. in Grand Rapids’ Heritage Hill district. In addition, the existing parking deck will be updated. The mixed-use project, now called Heritage View Place, will house 20,000 square feet of office space and 14 condominiums and is expected to create up to 40 new jobs.
All of these projects are good examples of the kinds of jobs and companies that Michigan needs to attract –
Bridget Beckman, an MEDC spokeswoman, said the proposed jobs statewide may represent four sectors: homeland security/defense, alternative energy, advance manufacturing, and life sciences.
The jobs will “retain expertise, attract and grow business and talent, and promote Michigan as the best place to live, learn and earn,” she said.
We are on our way.
