Auto industry companies and others with ties to Southeast Michigan, including Brembo North America Inc.,H.A. Automotive Systems Inc., and Magna Exteriors and Interiors USA Inc., received state assistance to expand operations in the state after approval Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund board.
In total, the companies that received awards Tuesday are expected to invest more than $1 billion and add 3,877 jobs.
They include:
* General Motors Co. and GM Subsystems Manufacturing LLC plans to invest about $800 million upgrading a variety of facilities across the state to prepare for future vehicle platforms and programs. It also plans to create 1,750 new jobs as it consolidates engineering work from outside the state to an unspecified site in Michigan. GM was granted an amendment to its 2009 Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit, which at the time was for the retention of 20,000 employees. The credit previously was amended for retention of 33,000 employees, but has continued to grow and was amended again Tuesday to 34,750 jobs.
• Brembo North America Inc., which manufactures brake components for high-performance cars and motorcycles, opened its North American headquarters in 2010 in Plymouth Township. It plans to purchase property and build a plant in Albion Township to make brake rotor castings. It will invest more than $78 million and create 254 jobs, and was awarded $3.5 million in state incentives. Since 2010, Brembo has invested nearly $200 million in U.S. expansions, including opening, and since expanding, a 400,000-square-foot brake plant in Homer, about 35 miles southeast of Battle Creek. Brembo’s Homer plant supplies brake components to General Motors for the Cadillac ATS and XTS, Corvette Z06 and ZR1, as well as other models.
• H.A. Automotive Systems Inc., which makes automotive lighting components for North American OEMs, plans to purchase a building in Troy at 1300 Coolidge Road. There, it will establish a headquarters, manufacturing, and research and development facility related to electric lamp bulb and component manufacturing, according to a briefing memo. The company is expected to invest $28.8 million and create 368 new jobs. It was awarded $2.25 million in state assistance.
• Challenge Mfg Co. LLC, which operates four plants in west Michigan, and supplies welded and stamped assemblies to the automotive industry, had a state brownfield project work plan approved by the strategic fund board. The plan was submitted by the Oakland County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, and the school and local tax capture is valued at $2.9 million for its new 400,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Pontiac. In May, the company was awarded a $2.5 million performance-based grant for the $50 million project that is expected to create 450 new jobs at the former General Motors Pontiac Assembly Plant at 2100 S. Opdyke Road, which closed in 2009.
• The City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was authorized to use local and school tax capture valued at $8 million to redevelop five acres of property at 3800 and 3750 Woodward Ave. for an ambulatory-care center. The final project includes the demolition of an existing 12-story building, according to a briefing memo. The 4.7-acre site will then see the construction of a six-story medical office building, a four-story retail center and a 1,000-car parking ramp. Southfield-based Midtown Project LLC is having the building it’s owned for more than 12 years developed so that physicians employed by the Detroit-based Wayne State University Physician Group can all report to the same clinic building. The project is expected to create 30 full-time jobs.
• YanFeng USA Automotive Trim Systems Inc., a tier 1 automotive plastics interior trim supplier for North American OEMs, had its 2010 MEGA credit amended as it plans to add 519 new jobs at its Warren and Harrison Township facilities. The average weekly wage for the new jobs is expected to be about $789, according to a briefing memo.
• Magna Exteriors and Interiors USA Inc. received an additional $507,000 to a previous state incentive award because it is continuing to grow beyond the $822,000 incentive it received in January, when it pledged to create 274 jobs at its facilities in Benzonia and China townships. It has already created all of those jobs and is planning to hire another 169 workers.
“The reinvention of Michigan is working and making our state the comeback state. These projects will add to our growing momentum and economic growth,” Gov. Rick Snyder said in a Tuesday statement. “We’ve worked to better our state’s business climate and our efforts are bringing strong results. These new investments in our state will strengthen our communities, spur new commercial investment in our cities and fuel new opportunities for our talented workforce.”
