Michigan Ranks No. 3 State for Major New Corporate Expansions

Beats Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, Indiana

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced Site Selection magazine has named Michigan the No. 3 state in the nation for major new corporate facilities and expansions in 2009.

We just witnessed a thrilling global competition where many times the difference between winning a gold or bronze medal was a mere fraction of a second,” Granholm said. “The same holds true for Michigan in this important 50-state contest. We take pride in winning the bronze, but won’t rest until we win the gold. We will continue to push our go anywhere, do anything, aggressive economic development and diversification plan to accomplish that goal.”

Site Selection, a global business publication, verified 371 projects that met capital investment, job-creation or size standards, up from 296 for 2008, as part of its annual Governor’s Cup ranking (www.siteselection.com). This is the second year in a row that Michigan has finished in the top three. This year, Michigan was 10 projects back of first-place Ohio and three back of second-place Texas. Pennsylvania finished fourth with 333 projects. Rounding out the top 10 were Tennessee, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia and Indiana.

Major new corporate projects for Michigan in 2009 included: advanced energy storage and solar firms like Xtreme Power and Clairvoyant Energy on the site of the former Ford Wixom assembly plant; advanced-battery development and manufacturing firms A123 Systems (Ann Arbor), Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions (Holland), and Dow Kokam (Midland); and major expansions by General Motors and Ford for electric and hybrid vehicle production here.

Site Selectionalso recognized Detroit-Warren-Livonia as the nation’s No. 4 metro area with a population of one million or more for new and expanded corporate facilities. Among metro areas with a population of between 200,000 and one million, Grand Rapids-Wyoming tied for third; Holland-Grand Haven was fifth; and Ann Arbor and Lansing-East Lansing tied for sixth.

“This yearly analysis is seen as a standard of performance by corporate real estate and site selection professionals and as such, demonstrates that Michigan holds a strong and enviable position in the face of economic distress,” Michigan Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Greg Main said. “These high rankings reinforce that Michigan is a top-tier location for growing companies because of our aggressive initiatives, strong business climate and hard-working and talented workforce.”

Site Selection’s annual Governor’s Cup competition recognizes the states with the most new or expanded private-sector capital projects as tracked by publisher Conway Data Inc.’s new plant database. Facility projects counted in the Governor’s Cup, Top Metros and Top Micropolitan rankings meet one or more of these criteria: capital investment of $1 million or more, creation of 50 or more new jobs, or new floor space of at least 20,000 square feet.

About Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is the state’s marketing arm and lead advocate for business development, job awareness and community development with the focus on growing Michigan’s economy. For more information on the MEDC and our initiatives, visit www.MichiganBusiness.org. For Pure Michigan® tourism information, your trip begins at www.michigan.org. Join the conversation on: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn, and Twitter.