FeedsPrototype maker expands in city
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The former Carron & Co. facility is located on Princeton Street, near another facility owned by Livernois Vehicle Development.The City of Inkster beleaguered industrial district appears to be seeing some improvement now that an automotive prototype company has agreed to purchase a long-vacant facility.
Livernois Vehicle Development has agreed to purchase the old Carron & Co. building on Princeton Street.
The company, which made an impromptu presentation at an Inkster City Council study session Monday, is preparing to go through a planning process with the city that will likely include tax incentives, said Community Development Director Dr. LaTina Dawkins.
“We’re very happy to have them here and look forward to working with them,” she said. “This will bring more opportunities to attract other businesses for the area in the future.”
Carron & Co., once the largest employer and taxpayer in the city, went out of business about six years ago after losing some contracts with Ford Motor Co. The company had once been the cornerstone of a thriving light industrial area within the city in the 1960s and 70s.
Since Carron folded, at least two commercial brokers have tried to sell or lease the space to an industrial entity.
Livernois, a company that also has extensive contracts with Ford, will transfer about 100 jobs from a Dearborn Heights facility and will add new ones, according to written documents company representatives filed with the city.
The building, which measures 195,000 square feet, will also be converted into a high-tech showplace for the company. A 4,500 square foot showroom will be added to the building.
City officials said talks with the company about building modifications will include a discussion about tax abatements.
Tax abatements – or financial incentives negotiated by a municipality and industrial companies – were created by the state to hold onto manufactures. Under state law, an abatement can be granted for up to 12 years. During that time, the company receives a 50 percent reduction in the amount of taxes it pays on building improvements.
The facility is located outside of the Downtown Development and Tax Increment Financing Authority districts, which means that the taxes collected on the facility will go fund conventional city services.
Abatements have become a way of life in other Michigan municipalities – neighboring Romulus has granted two in the last year to General Motors Corp. and Aztec Manufacturing, a maker of precision cast iron forgings for the automotive industry.
Municipalities generally use a formula based on the number of years a company has had operations in a given city, the viability of the business plan and the amount of the tax savings to approve or deny abatement requests to ensure all applications are assessed equally. Cities are not obligated to grant abatements for the full 12-year limit.
It is unclear if the city has an abatement assessment plan finalized.
The city has been trying to improve its faltering tax base for many years. Mayor Hilliard Hampton said the expansion of Livernois is a big win for the city.
“We’re obviously pleased about this development,” he said. “The Carron building has been vacant and in disrepair for a while now. It’s good to have somebody in there.”
Livernois has another two facilities in Inkster, but has not always had easy relations with the city. Approval of building a breezeway between two of the company buildings took several months, which company officials complained about at city hall and in the media.
Dan O’Neil, a spokesman for Livernois, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
