Michigan

Even as Michigan development officials continue to cry foul over what they view as softer environmental standards that allowed Alabama to attract the $1-billion Hyundai project earlier this year, they continue to attract plenty of new projects in their state's signature industry. (Look for further coverage of both Michigan and the North American automotive sector in the January 2003 issue of Site Selection.)
        In August, AutoAlliance International, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Mazda Motor Corporation, announced plans to invest approximately $644 million in new machinery and equipment to prepare its 18-year-old Flat Rock manufacturing facility for new vehicle production. That action will keep 9,673 jobs in the community, and holds the potential to add another 1,200 to 1,400. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. awarded AutoAlliance a Single Business Tax credit worth up to approximately $94.9 million over a 20-year period, and the city of Flat Rock approved a local tax abatement worth up to $31 million over 12 years. In return, the company's operations will result in total net state revenue increases of more than $758 million during the life of the tax credit. An AutoAlliance spokesperson declined to reveal any details of the winnowing process.
        The state and its industrial denizens are looking to the future as much as building on the past. For Michigan, as for several other Upper Midwest states -- and more importantly, the Big Three auto makers -- that means fuel cells. In September, plans were announced for NextEnergy, a $50-million, 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,225-sq.-m.) research facility to be built over the next year along Wayne State University's Woodward Technology Corridor in Detroit, on territory inside one of Michigan's 11 Smart Zones, which offer special tax advantages to those locating there. Original plans called for the facility to locate in Washtenaw County in Ann Arbor, but lingering questions about infrastructure improvements there led both the company and development officials to start looking for alternate sites.