[UpperPeninsulaRon]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

Michigan needs to balance these big global alternative businesses with support for local supplier businesses and innovative entrepreneurs, perhaps like merit1sje. I can just imagine the Upper Midwestern states banding together to make themselves the place to go to work in alternative energy, and perhaps share in tax revenue so the whole region rises together to launch a new industrial revolution. That'd be much better than Toledo competing against Saginaw for business.

This is very good news indeed. As we see from excerpts from the quoted article in the thread, Michigan must be poised to be very agressive in offering companies significant benefits to move here. Look at what Tennessee offered:

Doornbos said Michigan business boosters shouldn't feel slighted that the Saginaw County location didn't get the bulk of the project.

"It's a matter of risk management, really," he said. "This is our home, our headquarters, but it's better not to have all of your operations at one site."

Natural disasters, work stoppages, terrorism and other threats are reasons for "diversifying" HSC's manufacturing hubs, Doornbos said. "It just makes sense."

Tennessee offered incentives with "very attractive" energy rates, an "excellent" location, he added, and other specifics not disclosed.

Clarksville, Montgomery County and Tennessee state officials aggressively courted HSC to locate in Commerce Park, a 1,215 acre industrial "megasite," The Tennessean newspaper reported on its Web site.

The region's city-county Industrial Development Board offered a tax incentive package for a prospective company code-named "Project Washington" that reduces local property taxes 50 percent during construction and 20 years afterward, the Nashville newspaper reported. The County Commission also rezoned 940 acres of farmland next to Commerce Park for industrial use.

To become "the place to go" for alternative energy jobs, Michigan must be ready and willing to be very creative to entice businesses. It must be understood that Michigan will not become a mecca for green operations simply because Michigan used to be the center for automotive operations. Michigan must offer a tangible business rationale for businesses to locate in the state.

[michmoldman]

I also thought I heard Granholm say they have 20 other big projects they are working on. If you ask me, this is the beginning of our comeback. It will be a while before we reap the benefits, but we are coming back!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

Michigan needs to balance these big global alternative businesses with support for local supplier businesses and innovative entrepreneurs, perhaps like merit1sje. I can just imagine the Upper Midwestern states banding together to make themselves the place to go to work in alternative energy, and perhaps share in tax revenue so the whole region rises together to launch a new industrial revolution. That'd be much better than Toledo competing against Saginaw for business.

Interesting thought Bluefly. Kind of like the Great Lakes Compact when it came to water conservation, but apply it to leveraging and marketing the Great Lakes States' industrial and technological know-how across the globe.

Michmoldman, here's the list of company expansions announced today:

-- $32.3 million investment by Global Wind Systems Inc., which plans to locate in Novi at a site to make wind energy turbines, creating 356 jobs.

-- A $520 million investment, part of a total $700 million investment, for new steel-making capabilities at Severstal North America Inc.’s operations in Dearborn, retaining 76 jobs.

-- A $143.4 million investment by ZF Group North American Operations Inc., of Northville, to create 475 jobs at an axle plant in Marysville being built by Chrysler L.L.C.

-- An $8.8 million expansion in Fraser by auto supplier Faurecia, which plans to create 82 jobs.

-- An $11 million investment in Commerce Township by home health care company FKA Distributing (dba HoMedics), creating 62 jobs.

-- A $4.4 million investment in Farmington Hills by auto supplier Kongsberg Automotive, creating 58 jobs.

-- A $3.4 million investment in Novi by mail-order and Internet prescription company Novixus L.L.C., creating 192 jobs.

-- A $5.8 million investment in Ann Arbor by startup microbrewery Northern United Brewing L.L.C., creating 158 jobs.

-- An $82.8 million, 14-story mixed-use project in Ann Arbor, by 601 Forest L.L.C.

-- A $38 million redevelopment of the Detroit Creamery Building in Detroit, by Golden Rectangle L.L.C.

-- A $35 million redevelopment of an abandoned public-housing development in Detroit, by Scripps Park Associates L.L.C.

-- An $8 million Ann Arbor retail project, Maple Shoppes Development.

-- An $8.9 million redevelopment of the former Greater Detroit Hospital in Detroit, to include a medical office and assisted living development.

Other projects announced on Monday outside the Detroit area included an investment of up to $1 billion by Hemlock Semiconductor Corp., to expand its manufacturing plant in Hemlock and create 190 jobs.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...E/812150275/-1

I highlighted the one I found the most interesting.

[Cliffie]

Originally Posted by magellan

Financial Times of London seems to have spilled the beans early.

$1 Billion expansion of HSC's plant in Hemlock, MI, a new $1.2 Billion plant in Clarksville, TN, and a new $300 Million plant in Hemlock to make silane gas for thin-film solar cells. All to double their current output in the U.S.

FT.com / Companies / Industrial Goods - Solar demand to drive Hemlock output up 100%

*swoon*

and may I add

and :Snoopy dance:

[MI-IRISH]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

*swoon*

and may I add

and :Snoopy dance:

In my humble opinion,not good enough,should have gotten aggressive and took the whole thing from tennessee,why settle for one piece of pie if you could have gotten the whole thing,personally,i am not interested in job creation for other states,or sharing a portion unless all our citizens in Michigan are well off,been too long in starvation mode to care about the other's.Michigan has in part,been the butt of too many joke's.Time to get really aggressive and get what is needed,but again,that's just my humble opinion.

[michmoldman]

Said somthing to the effect of didnt want to have all their eggs in one basket, kinda like stocks...its good to diversify. The only bad thing is Tenn. will be getting a lot more jobs at their plant. Something like 1500-1800 I think

[MI-IRISH]

Originally Posted by michmoldman

Said somthing to the effect of didnt want to have all their eggs in one basket, kinda like stocks...its good to diversify. The only bad thing is Tenn. will be getting a lot more jobs at their plant. Something like 1500-1800 I think

Like i said,more aggressive,those jobs would be here,in the world of business,if the government is going to delve into it,they have to be a lot more vicous in obtaining the need for their constituant's i.e. the people of the state.

[S6Sputnik]

Might as well be on the cutting edge, there are enough smart people in Michigan to make corner the market on alternative energy stuff!

Crossing fingers

[magellan]

Originally Posted by MI-IRISH

In my humble opinion,not good enough,should have gotten aggressive and took the whole thing from tennessee,why settle for one piece of pie if you could have gotten the whole thing,personally,i am not interested in job creation for other states,or sharing a portion unless all our citizens in Michigan are well off,been too long in starvation mode to care about the other's.Michigan has in part,been the butt of too many joke's.Time to get really aggressive and get what is needed,but again,that's just my humble opinion.

I agree. But in Hemlock's case, it may have been a matter of resources available. Apparently the current Hemlock Semiconductor production facility that they just built West of Saginaw is now the largest user of energy and water in the State of Michigan. That's right, bigger than any other assembly plant or chemical manufacturing facility in the state. In addition to tax cuts up the ying yang, they had to work out a highly competitive rate structure from the utility company to get this expansion. There may be only so much blood you can get from that turnip. But I too would have loved to have gotten the whole $3 Billion or so in Michigan.

Another thing to think about: 2/3's of those announced expansions the other day are automotive related (mostly technology related). Might as well kiss those goodbye if the auto company issues aren't straightened out (at least to get them through 09).

[Bluefly]

It must be understood that Michigan will not become a mecca for green operations simply because Michigan used to be the center for automotive operations.

That's a really good point, UPRon. But I think the fact that Michigan has the industrial infrastructure and the workforce with that knowledge should be used as a foundation for the attractive incentives you're talking about. The combination should make the Great Lakes region the logical place to go. To take an extreme example, why set up shop in North Dakota and have to recruit and train a bunch of people for work that is foreign to them when you have many skilled workers eager to go somewhere else?

And to respond to the other point - the Great Lake states rise and fall as one. Even Chicago is faltering as a hub of global influence. I think the states should come - perhaps even under a unifying government - and share resources to attract investment, market the Great Lakes, and share in tax revenues whether a business sets up shop in Wisconsin, Ohio, or Michigan.

Wouldn't it be interesting if, when all's said and done, Granholm actually lays the foundation to pull Michigan out of this mess? I'm not her biggest fan, but it would certainly redeem her.