The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced it had awarded $1.6 million in Transportation Economic Development Fund grant money to the city of Auburn Hills.
The TEDF grant will help improve infrastructure supporting 400 new jobs and $80 million in private investment in the automotive supply sector, officials said. TEDF grants are designed to help finance public highway, road and street projects critical to the movement of people and products, and to help get workers to their jobs, materials to growers and manufacturers, and finished goods to consumers, officials said. The funding will help Lear Corp., add a site in Auburn Hills to its other Michigan facilities. Lear said it selected Auburn Hills because of its proximity to the General Motors Orion Township Plant, access to interstate highways, and site capacity and readiness.
“Auburn Hills admires and appreciates the cooperation from Lear Corp. in working toward a solution to traffic concerns in the area in which they will be locating, and funding from MDOT not only addresses these concerns but also supports job creation and invests in infrastructure that will continue to support these jobs for years to come,” Tom Tanghe, city manager of Auburn Hills, said. “Lear’s strategic selection of an Auburn Hills location will serve them well in delivering their customer, GM in nearby Orion Township, and we welcome them as a new corporate citizen.”
Officials with Lear said the company will renovate an existing facility, inside and out, to serve as a just-in-time vehicle seat manufacturer supporting GM’s Orion Assembly Plant. Renovation will begin this summer, and operations are slated to begin in the fall. Additionally, Lear has partnered with Auburn Hill to address high-flow traffic at certain intersections and will use TEDF grant funding to covert the existing two-way stop-controlled intersection into a four-way roundabout this summer.
“Lear appreciates the collaboration of the State of Michigan, MDOT and the City of Auburn Hills in helping advance this important project,” Ray Scott, Lear president and CEO, said. “Our state-of-the-art Auburn Hills facility will support new manufacturing technologies for key GM vehicles assembled in Michigan. Lear is proud to support Michigan manufacturing through continued investment, innovation and technology. We are honored to work with customers like GM to help strengthen Michigan’s economy and long-term competitiveness.”
Officials said the total cost of the project is just over $2 million, with the TEDF Category A program providing $1.6 million in funding support. The City of Auburn Hills will provide $61,127 in construction costs and $341,000 in non-construction project-related costs, in addition to any cost overruns and nonparticipating work.