McDonald's has 125 managers who will work from the office next to the new American Mitsuba plant on Orndorf Drive. "We decided to move our office to Brighton, which provides a more centralized location there for providing better support for the entire state," says John Betts, McDonald's Michigan Region vice president and general manager. "Brighton will provide our staff and franchisees great highway access, and the convenience of several airports, Detroit, Flint and Lansing."

Developer Mike Corrigan, president of Corrigan Construction Co. which worked with McDonald's on the relocation, says McDonald's officials were on a fast track in choosing where to put their new regional headquarters. "This process just started four months ago and the McDonald's folks were very much in favor of coming to Brighton; they were looking for the perfect place," he says. Easy access to Interstate 96 and US-23 were factors in the decision, Corrigan adds.

The headquarters will function as a resource center providing support in the areas of administration, business research, communications, construction, finance, franchising, human resources, management, marketing, real estate, security, technology and training. The center also will be used to conduct training classes for restaurant management staff, Betts says.