FORD

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Ford, however, is keeping its cards close to the vest. e automaker has not con rmed the scope of the project or what sites it is considering.

“…We haven’t described or conrmed speci c sites — plural — that are or aren’t being considered. Or even the states in which they’re located,” Ford spokesman T.R. Reid said in an email to Crain’s.

Michigan is competing “aggressively” for the project, said Quentin Messer, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

“Michigan is always talking to Ford and any of our large employers,” Messer told Crain’s. “We talk in general about making sure that Michigan remains a competitive environment for opportunity.”

Messer said he is uncertain about timing for an announcement on the plant and he is unsure what other sites are being considered.

“ ere’s a lot of competition for this opportunity, both across the U.S. and also our friends in Canada and also in Mexico,” he said. “So we are aggressively competing and out-hustling and out-competing, and we’ll see what happens.”

It bene ts Ford to keep its decision-making a mystery, but not taxpayers, said James Hohman, director of scal policy at the Mackinac Center

Detroit Riverwalk. e Joe Louis Greenway Partnership, a nonpro t established by the city last summer, was raising funds toward the estimated $240 million cost to complete construction of the greenway. e rst span of the greenway opened last fall. With the joint $350 million goal, $200 million will go to nish the Joe Louis Greenway, Cullen said. About $50 million will go to complete construction of the Detroit Riverwalk, and $100 million will go to create a permanent endowment to maintain both. e Uni ed Greenway Partnership has already raised a signi cant chunk of its target through public funding. e state made a $100 million grant to the Joe Louis Greenway. e county and city each made $20 million commitments, and the city is expected to come in with additional funding toward construction of the greenway, Cullen said. e partnership is looking to raise another $60 million from public sources and will seek the remaining $150 million from philanthropy, he said. for Public Policy. e 1,900-acre site, some 10 miles east of Battle Creek, is the state’s marquee property for a “transformational” project. It is one of three being actively prepared for development — along with a site in Mundy Township outside of Flint and Eagle Township near Lansing — and it is the furthest along in the process.

“What this really does...is it will allow the riverfront to be sustainable going forward because the total operating costs will be taken care of now by endowment by the city of Detroit support and by annual fundraising. So it will be sustainable going forward as will the Joe Louis Greenway,” Cullen said.

Even if the automaker has internally already settled on a site, it will wait to get the best deal before committing. Moreover, Hohman said, conducting deals in private lessens the chance of public blowback.

“I think a lot of these major companies that have a factory to sell are afraid of that kind of blowback, so they’re hosting their competitions in secret, and that’s an inappropriate way to do business,” he said.

In turn, the perceived threat of losing the project compels the MEDC to go to the table with the biggest incentives package it can o er to secure the investment.

“We will use every available tool that we have in our toolbox, and I think it would be imprudent to talk speci cs,” Messer said.

Similarly, it serves the MEDC to not divulge how many hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives it might be o ering, should a competing state decide to one-up. It’s a highstakes game of blind poker, of sorts.

“We don’t want to tip our hand to the competition,” Messer said.

As Michigan vies for the battery plant, a “megasite” in Marshall is readying for its moment.

In the past two months, site preparation has picked up rapidly at the swath of farmland near I-69 and I-94 in Calhoun County.

Two companies are interested in the site, said Jim Durian, CEO of the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance, which controls the megasite. He declined to name them, but o cials have said they are targeting automobile, battery and semiconductor manufacturing.

Durian said he thinks the megasite is “closer now than it has ever been” to landing a project.

“We just have to wait it out,” he said. “It could be a matter of weeks. It could be longer. I don’t know. It’s just hard to tell with these projects.” e Marshall development alliance triggered a purchase option last month for 667 acres from Indiana-based Ceres Farms LLC and a pair of residential property owners, according to a City Council document.

O cials from the city of Marshall and Marshall Township signed o on transferring the land to the control of the economic development agency, marking another step toward development, Durian said. Triggering the purchase option was the result of feedback received from companies visiting the site.

If Ford does choose Michigan, it could theoretically put the plant e Detroit Riverfront Conservancy will continue to operate, secure, sta , program and maintain its green spaces, including Cullen Plaza, the Detroit Riverwalk, Robert C. Valade Park, Mt. Elliott Park, Gabriel Richard Park, Dequindre Cut, Southwest Greenway, and Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park. e Joe Louis Greenway Partnership will coordinate with the city to support the operations, maintenance, programming, community engagement and volunteer opportunities for the greenway.

“It just wouldn’t have been possible without the three,” Cullen said.

Coming together through the partnership “allowed us to approach funders at the government and in philanthropy with a cohesive vision of collaboration and a total outcome here,” he said.

Jointly pursuing funding for two of Detroit’s centerpiece projects — one that will stretch into neighboring cities — ties back to everything that the city, the Detroit Regional CEO Group, Detroit City Council and others have been trying to do all these years to bring a transformational outcome to the entire Detroit community, he said.

“ is is the project that I think is going do that,” Cullen said.

While collaborating on fundraising, the two nonpro ts will each have distinct operational roles.

For its part, the city will lead the planning, design, construction and operations of the Joe Louis Greenway and work with the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership to operate and maintain the greenway.

“Between our beautiful riverfront and the new Joe Louis Greenway, we are creating a world-class recreational asset for all Detroiters,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, in a release. “ is new partnership will help keep it beautiful for generations to come.”

Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch somewhere other than a megasite, similar to Gotion Inc.’s $2.4 billion plant in the Big Rapids area, which caught many in the economic development community o guard.

As with the Gotion plant, Ford’s plant with CATL — the largest EV battery maker in the world — has stirred political tension.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said last month that he removed his state from consideration for the factory because it would serve as a “Trojan horse” for China into the U.S., helping the Far East bolster its EV battery dominance and spread its in uence.

Critics have accused the Republican of putting his political ambitions ahead of new jobs. Others have said Virginia was never a realistic option for Ford given its assembly plants are not near Virginia.

Asked her reaction to Youngkin’s decision to halt talks, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said: “I could say a whole lot of things about what I suspect is going on with my colleague from Virginia. But I will refrain. All I can say is that Ford is a great American, iconic company — a great Michigan, iconic company. ere are states across the country that are competing for investment from Ford, as are we. You can never assume that they’re going to grow here. We’ve got to compete. at’s why the work we’ve done has been so important.”

Whitmer will soon sign legislation to add $150 million into an incentives fund the state set up more than a year ago in the wake of Ford’s 2021 decision to put EV and battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.

It remains unclear what business relationship Ford and CATL would have in the new battery plant, whether it would be a joint venture, technology licensing agreement or some other type of structure.

Ford announced in July that it entered a nonbinding memorandum of understanding outlining “global strategic cooperation” with CATL to jointly explore new business opportunities worldwide to cover battery supply in North America, Europe and China, according to a news release.

“ e elevated global strategic cooperation aims to open up new opportunities for both companies to create a sustainable business and promote EVs, contributing to global carbon neutrality goals,” it said.

— Crain’s Detroit Business reporter David Eggert contributed to this report.

Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl