PORTAGE (WKZO AM/FM) — Executives at Pfizer in Kalamazoo says they still have a number of people to convince but they are hopeful that they will be adding a huge new manufacturing facility in Portage, bringing in good high paying jobs, if they do.
The local executives are asking the Portage City Council for a 12-year-tax break, and have submitted applications to the State seeking financial assistance from them as well.
If they can secure those incentives, and work out the other financial arrangements, then they can seek approval from the home office for the $465-million dollar expansion. It would be built next to the current facility so that it could take advantage of their new warehouse and other facilities.
The plan is to build a modular aseptic manufacturing facility that would initially create 140 new jobs and could eventually require 450 new employees to staff.
Mayor Patricia Randall says it will be the biggest project ever built in Portage.
The Council has set an April 10th public hearing on the proposal, the first step of several it will take to approve the local tax break.
