[CPEO-BIF] Former Lear plant, Walker, Michigan

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Empty plant shows incentives' value

By Chris Knape
The Grand Rapids Press (MI)
May 2, 2006

WALKER -- The polished floors and wide open spaces at the former Lear 
Corp. plant -- soon to be filled by Coopersville-based Amstore -- 
represent what a partnership between the public and private sectors can 
accomplish.

That was the message developer and plant owner Jack Buchanan wanted to 
convey during a walk-through of the massive facility Monday. Amstore, 
which makes retail store shelving, displays and other equipment, has 
leased 450,000 square feet at the former automotive parts plant, 
although its investment and the number of new jobs it may create are 
uncertain.

State Rep. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, said the lucrative tax incentives 
the state and city have piled on the plant will help reinvigorate the 
region's economy. He was among a team of officials from the Grand Rapids 
Area Chamber of Commerce, The Right Place Inc. and Walker that backed a 
plan to make the plant a Brownfield and a Renaissance Zone, which 
eliminates most state and local taxes for the plant's owners and tenants 
over the next 15 years.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/index.ssf?/base/business-3/114658131922710.xml&coll=6

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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