PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Hundreds of new jobs could be coming to Portage, but the specific employer is still unknown.
At Tuesday’s County Commission meeting Lotta Jarnefelt of the County’s Planning and Development Department gave a presentation on what is currently being called “Project Spartan.”
Southwest Michigan First’s Joe Agostinelli says a lease on the facility has not yet been signed with the end user, so he cannot say who the employer is at this time.
The mystery developer is seeking a Brownfield designation to get state and local funding to clean up the location because the new distribution center would be built on a contaminated industrial site that has high levels of phosphorous in the groundwater. This qualifies it as a Brownfield plan.
It is apparently 37-acres of land located on 6701 Portage Road.
Scannell Properties LLC plans to spend 25-million dollars to construct the new building and the unnamed tenant would spend another 15 to 20 million on equipment to set up the distribution center.
Agostinelli expects it could create 766 new full-time jobs and hire 158 contract employees.
Preliminary work would begin later this month and construction could be completed by next fall.
This is the county’s 18th Brownfield plan, it was approved by the County Brownfield Authority on September 26th. It will be considered by the city on October 4th and by Portage on October 15th.
The plan is still in its early stages so not many details have been released at this time.
