Yanfeng USA Automotive Trim Systems, a Harrison Township-based automotive supplier, will invest $56.6 million to renovate a previously vacant building, following the planned reconstruction of Executive Drive, between Henry B. Joy Boulevard and Production Drive, near 1-94.
The expansion is expected to create more than 500 new jobs, says David Wang, president of Yanfeng, which established its first Harrison Township location in 2010.
“This expansion will be a significant investment to our headquarters,” Wang says. “This is going to dramatically improve the appearance and functionality of our operations.”
Initially, Yanfeng officials had considered expanding to a location outside of metro Detroit, but changed their minds after public officials decided to reconstruct Executive Drive, as well as widen the intersections to allow for improved access for Yanfeng and other companies in the business park.
The $2.3-million road reconstruction project, which will repair the industrial road that often floods during heavy rainfalls due to poor drainage, is funded in part by state transportation economic development grants from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
MDOT officials recently awarded more than $4 million in such grants, which supported 1,474 new and existing jobs, and leveraged about $181 million in private investment, in Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, and Wayne counties.
Enacted in 1987 and reauthorized in 1993, transportation economic development grants help finance highway, road, and street projects that are critical to the movement of people and products, and getting workers to their jobs, materials to growers and manufacturers, and finished goods to consumers, say MDOT officials.
