Dearborn Steel Mill Awaits $250M Upgrade

(To read more on the industrial market, click here.)

DEARBORN, MI-Severstal Group will invest up to $250 million to upgrade its steel mill in the city, the company says. Severstal purchased Rouge Steel in April 2004 to establish its first presence in the North American market.

The company’s investments in its Dearborn steel making facilities will focus on maintaining and modernizing the company’s primary steel making operations, installing new pollution control equipment and modernizing the company’s cold rolling and finishing equipment, says Vadim A. Makhov, chairman of Severstal North America.

The Severstal Group is a major steel manufacturer in Russia with locations in 14 Russian Federation states. It is the 18th largest steel company in the world and employs approximately 150,000 people worldwide. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. approved a Single Business Tax credit valued at more than $28.7 million throughout 20 years to win the project. The City of Dearborn has approved a 50% abatement of the steel producer’s new real and personal property taxes for 12 years valued at approximately $19 million.

A University of Michigan economic analysis estimates that 9,295 spin-off jobs will be retained as a result of increased economic activity associated with Severstal’s expansion, in addition to the 2,005 jobs retained directly by the company. The project is expected to generate more than $11.9 billion in personal income for Michigan workers over the life of the tax credit.

“We made a good strong business case to assure that these manufacturing jobs would not leave Michigan,” MEDC president and CEO Don Jakeway says. “This commitment confirms the importance of incentives in winning the competition for business investment.”