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GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Base Closings Lead to Tenant Opportunities and Job Growth

DETROIT-In the Detroit suburb of Warren, the former US Army tank plant is now home to more than a half-dozen major industrial operations, and in Northeast Michigan, at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, township officials are boasting of a new business expansion.

By Dan Heaton | Updated on August 28, 2005

DETROIT-Dealing with closed military bases is never easy, but the current state of two Michigan facilities shows that bases can be developed for private use. In the Detroit suburb of Warren, the former US Army tank plant is now home to more than a half-dozen major industrial operations, a union training center, a community college branch and the headquarters for a growing white-collar business.

The old tank plant property–where tanks were built from the start of World War II through the early 1990s–was closed by an early 1990′s round of base closings. Shortly thereafter, the city purchased the land from the Army for $1 and had it designated as a state enterprise zone, cutting property taxes in half. Warren city officials say that while there aren’t as many jobs on the tank plant property, virtually all of the property is now on the tax rolls.

In Northeast Michigan, at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, township officials were boasting of a new business expansion, even as the BRAC commission in Washington, DC was deciding on closing other bases around the country. Phoenix Composite Solutions will renovate an 80,000-sf building it leases from the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport Authority. The company designs, repairs, overhauls and manufactures airframes, components, doors, and wings for the aerospace industry.

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