NDC is proud to support the largest auto supplier investment in the City of Detroit in more than two decades. By providing $8.1 million of New Markets Tax Credits, NDC is assisting Flex‐N‐Gate (FNG) with the construction of a new 494,000 SF manufacturing plant that will create 100 full-time construction jobs, and 500 permanent auto manufacturing related jobs that will increase to 800 at full capacity.
FNG has entered into an agreement with the Detroit Human Rights Department to recruit and hire 50% of its workforce from Detroit, especially those from the surrounding neighborhood. The project is located at 7000 Georgia Street, Detroit, MI, a census tract that qualifies as deeply distressed with a poverty rate of 51.9 percent, and an unemployment rate at 3.4 times the national average. In addition, the development will redevelop a Brownfield site, defined as a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by environmental contamination.
FNG is a minority-owned business which has operations in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois and across the border in Ontario, Canada. Despite incentives to locate this new manufacturing plant in places where FNG already has a presence, the company chose to locate its new facility in Detroit, and has committed to awarding at least 30 percent of contracts to Detroit-based contractors or suppliers.
Additional benefits include a commitment to sustainable and green building. The Project will utilize 100% scrap reclamation practices, reusable product dunnage and comprehensive monitoring and reporting of all supply-chain greenhouse gas emissions. FNG has also worked with the City of Detroit to reroute public bus lines as necessary to ensure adequate transit accessibility and will be paying for safety-related pedestrian improvements to lighting and sidewalks.
Total project cost is $235,155,096, of which FNG is providing $194,848,096 in equity. The financing closed July 30, 2018 and construction is expected to be underway by the end of 2018.