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Auto supplier Lear to create hundreds of jobs at old Cadillac Stamping site

Auto supplier Lear Corp. said Friday that it plans to set up a seat manufacturing operation with “hundreds” of new jobs at the location of the former Cadillac Stamping Plant on Detroit’s east side.

The Southfield-based supplier would presumably be a tenant in the new $48 million, 684,000-square-foot manufacturing center that is planned for the 43-acre site at 9501 Conner St.

The center is being built by NorthPoint Development, which is headquartered in the Kansas City, Missouri, area, and Lear is the first future occupant of the building to be publicly identified.

In a statement issued late Friday, Lear said it is planning a just-in-time seating manufacturing operation that would supply electric vehicles built at GM’s nearby Detroit-Hamtramck Factory ZERO. A Lear spokesperson declined to give additional details about the plans, including the operation’s expected start date and the precise number of workers.

“The facility will be one of our most energy-efficient plants in North America, and not only create hundreds of new jobs, but will be another important step forward in the redevelopment of Detroit’s eastside neighborhood,” the company’s statement said.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in June that he anticipated landing a tenant for the old Cadillac Stamping site that would employ about 450 people.

Demolition of the old stamping plant began in March and is expected to finish sometime this fall. Construction of NorthPoint’s new center would then start and could possibly be done by next summer.

Detroit residents are expected to get first crack at the new employment opportunities coming to the site.

In a Friday earnings call with Wall Street analysts, Lear CEO Ray Scott said the company will be supplying for the new GMC Hummer EV pickup and GMC Hummer EV SUV.

The old factory ended its run as a stamping plant in the 1980s, was later used as a machine shop and was abandoned about six years ago.

NorthPoint’s project is receiving significant redevelopment incentives, including brownfield tax captures and multiyear tax abatements.

Posted By: Detroit Free Press on August 6, 2021.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

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