The Detroit Region Aerotropolis is a four-community, two-county public-private economic development partnership driving corporate expansion and new investments around Detroit Metro and Willow Run Airports.
The partnership recently released its annual report for 2022, which details many new and impactful capital investments to the Detroit Region Aerotropolis.
The Corporation Board’s focus on building an innovation ecosystem by targeting advanced manufacturing and mobility industries led to multiple announcements including Aerostar Manufacturing, Romulus Trade Center, Our Next Energy (ONE) and multiple new partnership announcements at the American Center for Mobility.
In July 2022, Our Next Energy, a Michigan-based energy storage company, is investing $1.6 billion to build a battery manufacturing plant in Wayne County. The battery cell manufacturing campus, named ONE Circle, is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs. Production is expected to begin at the newly constructed 659,589 square foot building in 2024.
The daily work of supporting greenfield expansion by actively marketing 6,000 acres of development-ready land centered in a world-class network of transportation infrastructure remains.
However, the pathway to drive corporate expansion and new investment in our region has also moved into supporting mobility in the new aerospace economy. The Aerotropolis communities joined efforts to build highways in the sky for advanced air mobility.
This new infrastructure, grounded in authoritative municipal data, brought new advanced manufacturing prospects to the region. It also expanded on the multi-modal mobility network that is often a deciding factor when considering corporate expansion.
In June 2022, the Aerotropolis communities came together for a demonstration of advanced air mobility at the City of Taylor Beaumont Hospital. The demonstration included Airspace Link, Mission GO, MEDC, Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification, Taylor Beaumont Hospital, Detroit Region Aerotropolis, Wayne County, City of Taylor and others.Aerotropolis’s target industries, which include logistics, advanced manufacturing, and next generation mobility are growing.
Aerotropolis communities found a strong partner in the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME) and others.
Regional economic development is only as strong as the individual parties that comprise “the region” and the Detroit Region Aerotropolis is no exception.
Our success in 2022 and beyond would not be possible without the continued collaboration with and commitment of our communities and partners. Each of the following communities, counties, and organizations — both public and private are critical to the success of our business attraction efforts.