Flex-N-Gate Breaks Ground on $95M Detroit Plant

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Flex-N-Gate facility rendering

Flex-N-Gate has broken ground on the global auto supplier’s new $95 million manufacturing facility on the east side of Detroit.

The 350,000-square-foot facility will become a new centerpiece to the city’s growing I-94 Industrial Park and is a sign of the city and state’s success in attracting more manufacturing jobs back to Detroit.

“This new facility is an example of how Detroit has become much more attractive to large manufacturers like Flex-N-Gate,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a prepared release. “Shad Khan has made a strong commitment to hiring Detroiters and use Detroit-based contractors and is committed to using this project and this new facility to provide employment opportunities to as many Detroiters as possible. They have been a great community partner.”

Flex-N-Gate facility rendering

The project marks the largest investment by an auto supplier in the City of Detroit in over 20 years. Flex-N-Gate has committed to hiring 51 percent of its construction workforce from within Detroit and awarding at least 30 percent of construction work to Detroit-based companies.

“I have always believed that the embodiment of the American Dream is in manufacturing, and nowhere is that dream becoming more real and attainable for workers and families today than in the U.S. auto industry,” Shad Khan, Flex-N-Gate’s owner, said. “Detroit is the birthplace of U.S. automakers, and today Detroit is experiencing a manufacturing rebirth not only throughout the region, but specifically within the city limits. Our new facility at the I-94 Industrial Park will enable Flex-N-Gate to serve our customers better than ever, but the headline for me is one word—jobs.”

To support the project, the Detroit City Council recently approved a $5.9 million property tax abatement.

Tooles Contracting Group, a Detroit-based and minority owned company, will perform the majority of civil work prior to construction of the new facility, which is expect to open sometime in spring 2018.

There’s been a host of activity in the Detroit area lately. A123 Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced lithium-ion batteries and systems, announced plans to build its $40 million headquarters in Novi, Mich.; Ford Motor Co. said it will invest $200 million in a new wind tunnel complex on a 13-acre lot, next to Ford’s current driveability test facility in Allen Park, Mich.; and Microsoft Corp. will move its Michigan operations from the Detroit suburbs to the Motor City’s central business district, signing 40,000 square feet at the 1.1 million-square-foot One Campus Martius office tower downtown.

Renderings via City of Detroit website