The state’s generosity comes only a couple months after a $1.3 billion plan by two prior alternative energy companies, Xtreme Power Inc. and Clairvoyant Energy, was canceled at the Wixom plant. City Manager Mike Dornan tells GlobeSt.com that the companies could not obtain financing, due to pressures on the sustainable energy industry and the dry-up of capital from overseas lenders due to the economic downturn in Europe. According to a Crain’s Detroit report, Townsend Capital is also invested in Xtreme Power.

Dornan says his city is excited to see a redevelopment of the plant, which used to make the Ford Thunderbird and the Lincoln Town Car. However, the plant has had a few grandiose ideas that never came through, including a Warner Bros. studio plan and a water park idea. “The city could sure use the revenue from a working site,” he says. “We’ll give it another try. The tax credits don’t get issued if this project goes away, so we can keep trying.”

He says the plant is an empty shell after Ford has worked the past few years on cleaning up the site. The lease or ownership by Townsend of its planned space has yet to be worked out, Dornan says.