Four Winns Boats closed its operations in Cadillac in December 2000 after its parent company, Outboard Marine Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In March, JTC, an affiliated arm of Genmar Holdings, Inc., purchased Four Winns Boats.
The 358,000-sf facility was reopened at that time in order to meet dealer inventory needs for the approaching spring season. JTC Acquisition is a single member company of Jacobs Trading Company.
The Cadillac site was chosen for the Four Winns expansion rather than moving the facility to Sarasota, FL. It is estimated that this expansion will create 900 jobs for Michigan workers.
"The announcement of Four Winns' closure in December was devastating news to Cadillac," Engler says. "However, our Single Business Tax credit, combined with the city of Cadillac's local assistance, successfully convinced Four Winns' new owners to remain in Cadillac rather than pulling up stakes and moving operations out of state."
JTC intends on investing about $17.6 million, including building andequipment costs.
"Four Winns has built a solid relationship with the Cadillac community over the past 26 years, and we look forward to continuing this relationship," says John Anderson, president of the company.
A key feature of the MEDC incentive package is a Single Business Tax credit worth an estimated $11.3 million over the next 12 years. The package also includes an Economic Development Job Training grant of up to $550,000 to train new employees. The MEDC also offered an abatement of the six-mill State Education Tax valued at $164,610.
The city of Cadillac is prepared to provide an abatement of the personal property tax for 12 years on all new equipment purchased. The city is also ready to transfer the existing real and personal property tax abatements to Four Winns Boat. The value of these anticipated abatements is $748,695.
Mayor Ronald Blanchard says the city was extremely pleased with the decision to keep Four Winns in Cadillac. "Many parties spent a considerable amount of time and effort to make this happen," he says.
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