General Motors Corp. may build a $130 million data center, information technology lab and technology center at its Cadillac building in Warren.
The plans are part of an announcement made Wednesday by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, which approved a state brownfield tax credit of $10 million for the expansion and redevelopment of the building.
The project would create about 25 jobs and put the state's third-largest city in the position of attracting new economy workers to replace the manufacturing jobs eliminated by modernized car-making.
"I think this is an indicator to companies that in Warren and in the metro area we have a lot of highly skilled people who are ready to move in to these jobs, and they will be high paying jobs, highly skilled jobs, jobs where people have a future," Warren Mayor Jim Fouts says. "The future is with information and data and the internet. We don't want to be dependent upon the old industrial concept. We want to move into the 21st and 22nd century."
In all the investment - should it be completed as planned - along with other upcoming GM projects in Warren amounts to nearly $500,000 million and hundreds of jobs, Fouts says.
"I really think this is the tip of the iceberg with the state turning around and getting out of the economic malaise it's been in."
The
Michigan Economic Growth Authority, or MEGA, offers refundable tax credits against the Michigan Business Tax to companies expanding or relocating their operations in Michigan. Tax credit agreements are awarded on the basis on the strength of projects, including jobs created and amount of investment.
Source: Warren Mayor Jim Fouts; Michigan Economic Growth Authority
Writer: Kim North Shine
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