General Motors Seeks Tax Breaks On Possible Warren Tech Center Investment

The General is looking to spend almost half a billion dollars ($419 million) to expand and update the Warren Tech Center and create an estimated additional 2,600 new jobs, according to tax abatement files the company provided to the city of Warren.

The company is seeking a 12-year tax abatement period after six-years of construction at the massive GM campus–which spans more than 300 acres–and it’s considering “constructing several structures (buildings, additions and parking decks) and the renovation of various buildings at the GM Technical Center to support a more modern, competitive, collaborative campus,” according to the application filed in February, according to The Detroit News.

The tax abatement would essentially allow GM to reduce the amount of property tax it would be forced to pay on the new construction and improvements. However, the tax abatement has yet to be approved by the city and the extent of the abatement has yet to be made public.

“Receiving a tax abatement from the City of Warren would be very important for the project going forward for approval,” GM spokesman Dan Flores told The Detroit News.

Flores also said that GM has not approved moving ahead with the project and he was uncertain what would happen if the abatement request was not approved.

But GM won’t have to wait long for the city’s decision, as the Warren City Council is holding a meeting tonight at 6pm and a vote on the abatement is widely expected.

GM says the development of its potential new projects could run through 2020. Here are just a few of the projects slated:

  • Improvements to the Design Studio and a new parking deck – $180 million
  • A new building not yet to be identified – $63.7 million
  • A new parking deck not yet identified – $54 million
  • Renovations at Research and Development buildings – nearly $60 million
  • Addition to the Pre-Production Operations building – $39 million
  • Renovation/addition to an Advanced Engineering Center lab – $20 million
  • Renovations to a cafeteria – $750,000

General Motors also purchased the former Campbell-Ewald headquarters across the street from its global engineering HQ in order to expand the campus.

A far-too-tall Ontarian who likes to focus on the business end of the auto industry, in part because he's too tall to safely swap cogs in a Corvette Stingray.

Drew Singer

A far-too-tall Ontarian who likes to focus on the business end of the auto industry, in part because he's too tall to safely swap cogs in a Corvette Stingray.

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