Mid-Michigan leaders celebrating $175M investment into Buick City
By Zain Omair
September 27, 2024
FLINT, Mich. (WNEM) – Mid-Michigan leaders were celebrating a massive, multimillion-dollar manufacturing plant that’s expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the former Buick City site.
Buick City was once the site of GM’s largest plant. Soon, it’ll be home to NanoGraf.
“The total project size is $175 million. This is to build the largest silicon oxide production plant, and we’re going to do that here in Flint, Michigan, Buick City,” said Francis Wang, the CEO of NanoGraf.
Leaders were celebrating plans for an electric vehicle battery material plant coming to Flint.
“Right here on the site of Buick City where there used to be tens of thousands of jobs and working families supported by this site. Now families once again will be supported from this site,” said Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley.
Chicago-based company NanoGraf plans to build a factory in the former Buick City corridor where Wang said they’ll produce 2,500 tons of silicon oxide per year, which is a material used in electric vehicle batteries.
The expansion is expected to bring 150 permanent jobs to Flint.
“We wanted to make sure we had a company that was going to be producing clean energy products. We didn’t want another company to be engaging in manufacturing that was going to have a nasty footprint in our ecosystem. We’ve experienced that before,” Neeley said. “A part of our town that was desolate, a contaminated, brownfield site. Now it’s going to be the site of life and jobs in our community.”
Out of the $175 million investment, $60 million is coming from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Chips Act and bipartisan infrastructure law.
U.S. Representative Dan Kildee it’s legislation that had Flint and investments like this in mind while making the blueprint.
“We created some incentives and we particularly created some incentives to focus some of this money on the older industrial places of America. And when we wrote that, I was writing it with Flint in my head. So to actually see it come to pass, it’s really nice to see,” Kildee said.
“They’ll be making this pivot into the auto industry, providing lighter, longer-lasting, better batteries to the auto industry and Flint’s going to be a major part in that,” said Tyler Rossmaessler, the executive director of the Flint and Genesee Economic Alliance.
“To be able to see 21st century jobs focused on the 21st century version of mobility coming back, it’s a psychological boost that means a lot to Flintstones like me,” Kildee said. “But it also means jobs in a sector of the economy that’s going to just expand and grow.”
Neeley said Flint is the perfect place for that growth.
“We have the University of Michigan. We have Mott Community College here where people can get retrained and gain the skillset to be able to be employed and provide a good living for their family,” Neeley said.
UM-Flint is one of the institutions looking to power a partnership.
“We’re all about workforce development with authentic industry partnerships. So, when we have new industries coming to Flint like NanoGraf, it’s really exciting because we know we can partner with them, to create the workforce that’ll help them be successful and attract even more industries to the area,” said Chris Pearson, the dean of the College of Innovation and Technology at UM-Flint.
And more industry could mean more for the community as a whole.
“What this means is more opportunities for young people. This means opportunities for small business. This means another taxpayer contributing to police, fire, and the schools,” Rossmaessler said.
NanoGraf plans to break ground next year with the goal of starting production by 2027.