Stellantis Megahub gets 12 years of 50% tax cuts in VBT

After two public hearings on May 20 at which no public spoke, the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees established Industrial Development District #26 and granted 50% tax abatement on the project for 12 years.
This is the Stellantis Mopar Megahub to be built on property north of Ecorse Road and east of Denton Road to replace four other Stellantis warehouses.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said cutting the taxes in half for the future is what they are doing while noting, “We’re getting zero now.”
Valerie Knol, public affairs officer for Stellantis, said the company is one of the largest auto makers in the world and encompasses 14 brands, including Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram, manufacturing in 30 countries with 26 plants in North America.
She said there are 75,000 employees in North American and 30,000 in Michigan, with 20 Parts Distribution Centers (PDC) which offers end-to-end logistics for auto parts.
The new hub facility in Van Buren Township is a regional PDC that will have employees from Michigan and Wisconsin.
Knol said Stellantis is investing $388.88 million to build the 2.1 million-square-foot facility. She said it is already zoned general industrial so they need no rezoning. The 13,000-square-foot building in the front will be for offices and the rest will be warehouses.
She said they will only be able to see the office building from Denton Road. She said half of the 355 acres will be built on and the rest will be open space with screening and wildlife. There will be no chain link fence. There will be no manufacturing there, she said.
Knol said parts will be shipped in, stored, and shipped out. She said the facility will be run by 488 upscaled employees working in two shifts, five days a week.
The south drive onto Denton Road will be for employees only and the north drive onto Denton would is for emergency access only.
The trailer trucks will come and go only off of Ecorse and there will be no entry from Denton Road. They are keeping the trailers off Denton Road, she emphasized.
Two hundred trucks a day will enter and leave the site, every two minutes, all using Ecorse Road. From the west, trucks will come from I-94 to Michigan Avenue to Ecorse. From the east they will use I-94 to Michigan to Ecorse. And those are the routes coming and going, mostly through Washtenaw County.
“They will not take Belleville Road,” she stated.
Anthony Fioritto II, Supply Chain and Facilities Management director for Stellantis, said they had a similar situation in Texas with traffic and they solved the problem. He said they don’t have truck driver turnover and the drivers have been with Stellantis a while. He said if they make a wrong turn they are corrected and “three times and you’re out.” He said all the trucks are equipped with GPS technology.
Knol said when they met with neighbors at a recent open house, the number-one message was they don’t want truck traffic.
She said they will leave as much vegetation as possible and the development will go before the planning commission and they are open to suggestions.
Knol said they’ve been searching for property for some time in Southeast Michigan and they found Van Buren Township a great location.
“Our employees are coming from other facilities,” she said. “We’re consolidating.” She said they will use Schoolcraft College to upscale employees.
Supervisor McNamara said that he will be voting yes on the tax abatement. He said there are a lot of wetlands on the property and this project is not a big water user or sewer user.
He said the last major infrastructure project in Van Buren Township did not go well, referring to Visteon Village.
“We don’t do very many Industrial Development Districts and there are only two or three in the township,” he said.
In other business at the 59-minute meeting on May 20, the board:
• Held a moment of silence in memory of Robert Mckenna who died on May 12. Treasurer Sharry Budd said he was a retired postal worker and a township volunteer;
• Heard Deputy Supervisor Dan Selman announce that earlier that day they learned that the township won a Telly Award after submitting the “State of the Township 2024” video as an entry. He said Elena Manalp and Chloe Michaels put the video together;
• Approved a resolution setting the 2025 total tax rate request to the county at 7.272. The township’s taxable value is $1,527,519,987 and the tax amounts to $11,105,070. The allocated millage to run the township is 0.8917, slightly less than last year’s 0.8935 mill because of the Headlee Amendment. The extra voted millage for public safety is 6.3803, slightly less than last year’s 6.3931. Assessor Jennifer Stamper said Headlee reduces the tax when the increase in taxable value is over the cost of living adjustment. Supervisor McNamara said, “We are still one of the lowest tax rates in the county, probably the region”;
• Approve consolidating the township’s current 10 voting precincts to 7 precincts to reduce the voting locations to 3 at Township Hall and 4 at Wayne County Community College. Clerk Leon Wright explained Proposition 2022-2 changed the way the State of Michigan votes with the addition of Early Voting. With voters now able to vote 9 days early during the state and federal elections, the precinct size restrictions were changed from 2,999 voters to 5,000. This has allowed the township to consolidate down to 7 precincts at 2 voting locations. He said this will allow the township to cut down on manpower and save money. New voter cards will be sent out; and
• Heard Supervisor McNamara say that Wayne County Executive Warren Evans asked McNamara to show him around his township. Supervisor McNamara said it was a treat to show him around. He said Evans tried to move to Van Buren Township a few years ago and it didn’t work out. Now it’s so much better, Evans said. He complimented the township on its new community center and its use of high-impact space. He said communities that built pools are having a hard time maintaining them and it’s killing them. Evans eventually wants a house and acreage for horses, McNamara said.