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Nearly $26 Million Invested in Saginaw

Saginaw Future Inc., the economic development agency for Saginaw County, reported investments totaling nearly $26 million in the second quarter.

The investments will create 52 jobs and retain another 62 jobs.

Details of the projects are as follows:

* ADM Edible Bean Specialties plans to build a new Blumfield Township processing plant, which consists of a new four-story, 7,500-square-foot building to clean and size beans. In addition, a new steel storage silo is proposed with approximately 300,000 bushels of capacity. The estimated project investment is $11 million resulting in 12 employees retained and three new workers. Headquartered in Decatur, Illinois, ADM operates more than 560 processing and sourcing facilities in more than 60 countries.

* Dow Corning Corp. continues to advance itself as a significant supplier within the solar industry. The company has made numerous investments at its Solar Solutions Applications Center in Tittabawassee Township. Dow Corning invested more than $1.2 million to expand its Freeland facility, along with the purchase of new equipment. Four new jobs were created as a result.

* Filtrona Porous Technologies is an international, market leading, specialty plastic and fiber products supplier listed on the London Stock Exchange. Formerly Lendell Manufacturing, the company was acquired in October 2009 by Filtrona PLC and became Filtrona Poruous Technologies. Manufacturing and technology development are conducted at the 60,000-square-foot building just outside the village of St. Charles. Filtrona invested $1.8 million in new equipment that will result in two to four new jobs.

* The Michigan Sugar Co. installed over $1 million in ventilation equipment at one of its two Blumfield Township locations to prevent excessive moisture and to preserve sugar beets. Additional plans call for the installation of the same equipment at the second Michigan Sugar location in Blumfield at a future date.

* After leasing warehouse space in the City of Saginaw for 16 years, Midwest Machinery Movers has purchased a building located at 2119 River St. in the City of Saginaw. The company invested $320,000, creating one new job. Midwest Machinery is an industrial machinery mover, from single machines to complete plant moves.

* Star of the West Milling Company amended its 2009 tax abatement application with the City of Frankenmuth due to a larger investment (additional $1.8 million) that exceeded the scope of the original project plan. Increased construction costs and the purchase of additional equipment prompted an amendment to the 2009 investment of $3.7 million. The Michigan Department of Treasury State Tax Commission allows for amendments to applications when construction is involved in a project.

* Midwest Manufacturing is investing $5.9 million in the city of Saginaw and will hire approximately 25 to 40 employees. The company had originally planned to purchase equipment from the former VanPoppelen Brothers Block company and move to an out of state location. SF helped package incentives to convince the company to locate in Saginaw. The city and county of Saginaw and Michigan Economic Development Corp. approved the extension of Renaissance Zone benefits from 2014 through 2020. Midwest Manufacturing is a division of Menards and will supply 26 stores throughout the state.

* The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs plans to open a new VA Mental Health Center in at 4241 Barnard in Saginaw Charter Township. The 18,780-square-foot office will be an annex facility, have up to 50 staff members and treat up to 180 patients a day. The U.S. government will lease the $4 million clinic from BGI South LLC. In May, the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners designated the entire County as a Recovery Zone and BGI submitted the only application, which was for $4 million in tax exempt bond allocation. SF is facilitating the tax exempt financing through the County's Economic Development Corp.

Established in 1992, Saginaw Future is a public-private alliance of local businesses, the County of Saginaw, City of Saginaw, 16 local municipalities and the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce. SF's strategic partners also include education, labor and government.  Since its beginning, SF has remained dedicated to fostering quality job creation through expansion of local industry and attraction of new business projects to the community.

For more information on Saginaw Future, please contact Greg LaMarr,
communications manager, at (989) 757-2104, e-mail glamarr@SaginawFuture.com or go to www.SaginawFuture.com.

(c) 2010, WWJ Newsradio 950. All rights reserved.

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