General Motor's is making a $10 million investment for exterior renovations and IT upgrades throughout its Swartz Creek Customer Care and Aftersales facility on Thursday, May 15.
SWARTZ CREEK, MI – A GM facility that has been in Swartz Creek since 1958 is getting a $10 million facelift.
The automaker is pushing back the entrance of the Miller Road building 50 feet and updating look of the Swartz Creek Customer Care and Aftersales facility."It's a very old building and now you'll have a brick front and a campus-feel with an extended lawn and more trees and as time goes on we intend to plant more trees out there," said plant manager Robert Gaydos.
But much of the new work won't be visible to the naked eye, with new phone lines, networks and high-tech equipment in a facility that was built during the Eisenhower administration."At this point, this is mostly an investment in the infrastructure and (information technology)," Robert Gaydos, the plant manager said.
The plant -- which paints, combines and redistributes collision bulk parts -- already has work being done inside but much of the demolition of the exterior won't be done until June.
Construction is expected to be finished by year's end.
Also included in the renovations will be a place for employee training, a medical facility and UAW offices.
While the investment won't mean the immediate addition of jobs, officials say it could result in bigger projects in the future.
The 3.1-million square foot facility employs more than 450 people, down from a few thousand 25 years ago, according to Flint Journal files.
The investiment comes several months after GM began a $600 million project at the paint shop at Flint Assembly and almost a year after GM closed the Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center.
During an announcement ceremony on Thursday, May 15, much of the discussion focused on the history of the plant, including it becoming a centralized warehouse and distribution division in 1969 and a three-floor office addition in 1978.
Swartz Creek Mayor David Krueger said the improvements won't mean any more tax money for the city budget but said the changes are welcome.
"It will upgrade the looks of the community a lot and give it a much better image," he said.
David Perina, chairman of UAW Local 659, said this work has workers excited about the future opportunities in the plant.
"It secures our future," he said. "Any time General Motors makes an investment in the community, that's a plus."