Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Monday 14 august 2017
A25

Detroit luring manufacturers to industrial park, vacant land

By COREY WILLIAMS vacant land across its 139 made the industrial park
Associated Press square miles (224-square- a tax-free zone to help at-
DETROIT (AP) — Inside a kilometers). tract companies and jobs.
fenced construction site on Q u a s i - g o v e r n m e n t a l Hoping to capitalize on
Detroit’s east side, heavy groups such as land banks companies’ desire for va-
machines are digging, are empowered by cities cant land, Detroit is un-
shoving and hauling away to find, acquire and clean dertaking a land-mapping
tons of dirt in preparations up the land to compete analysis to identify vacant
for the latest addition to the with suburban communities and under-utilized parcels
city’s industrial landscape. that have open expanses that could be assembled
Auto parts supplier Flex- of cleaner soil. into larger parcels.
N-Gate is expected to Since most of the vacant “You’ve got to have the
bring 750 jobs to De- land isn’t connected, those acreage assembled to be
troit when it completes groups buy up adjacent able to accommodate a
its 350,000-square-foot lots here and there to make facility of 200,000 to 400,000
(32,500-square-meter) usable larger pieces. square feet ... tracts of land
plant at the Interstate 94 In- Detroit’s prime site for new that can be assembled
dustrial Park. manufacturing is the 186- that are in good location In this July 19, 2017 photo, heavy machinery clearing land at the
It will join several other firms acre (75-hectare) I-94 In- and have access to roads, Interstate 94 Industrial Park in Detroit.
that are investing millions of dustrial Park northeast of so you’re not running trucks Associated Press
dollars where only so many downtown. Flex-N-Gate is through neighborhoods,” redeveloped. “You are spending money
years ago manufacturing scheduled to open there said Michael Samhat, presi- The sites have been in ev- on land somebody else
jobs were disappearing. next year. dent of Crown Enterprises ery area of Cleveland. polluted,” said Rocky Mar-
The changes come as De- It’s “an example of ... past which developed and “Ten acres to 60 acres,” coux, Milwaukee City De-
troit, like many other Rust work assembling smaller owns the Linc Logistics site said David Ebersole, direc- velopment commissioner.
Belt cities, looks to lure firms parcels into larger ones to at the industrial park. tor of Economic Develop- “You can go after them
with just what they’re look- accommodate a manu- Bruce Katz, of the Brook- ment for Cleveland. for the next 100 years and
ing for: vacant land where facturing operation such as ings Institution, said it’s not “If you don’t have land never collect any money.
they can build and grow. the new Flex-N-Gate facil- just about “real estate,” but you’re not going to land You don’t want these to be
“I do not think Detroit is a ity,” Chapman said. about access “to a talent anybody.” areas of disinvestment.
tough sell. Other companies already pool.” Milwaukee has seen suc- We are not going to let
What we find when we’re in Detroit or moving into the “Automobiles are essential- cess along the Menomonee these abandoned proper-
speaking with prospects city include Sakthi Automo- ly computers on wheels,” River, an area that once ties be our postcards for the
is they want to be within tive Group, which is plan- said Katz, who focuses on housed shops that made city of Milwaukee.”q
a rich and robust cluster ning an 180,000-square- the challenges and oppor- train cars, all kinds of ma-
of other automotive and foot (16,700-square-meter) tunities of global urbaniza- chinery, bricks from clay,
other advanced industries. expansion in southwest De- tion. and processed grains and
We have that healthy sup- troit. ArcelorMittal plans to “The broader Detroit area is meat. Working with Milwau-
ply chain with regard to au- move into a 317,000-square- one of the greatest hubs of kee’s private sector, about
tomotive and advanced foot (29,400-square-meter) technological innovation 300 acres of brownfields
manufacturing,” said Peter building in the I-94 Indus- around manufacturing.” have been redeveloped
Chapman, Detroit Eco- trial Park to make steel Detroit isn’t the only Rust into manufacturing land,
nomic Growth Corp. ex- blanks for the automo- Belt city with vacant land trails, parks and wildlife
ecutive vice president for tive industry. Linc Logis- for firms. habitat.
business development. tics’ 500,000-square-foot In Cleveland, the city’s More than 40 companies
A 2012 study found Detroit (46,400-square-meter) fa- industrial land bank has have moved into the area,
had about 20 square miles cility was the first new ten- cleaned up more than 100 bringing along with them
(52 square kilometers) of ant there after Michigan acres and had half of that more than 5,000 jobs.