Windsor's mayor is calling a strategic joint venture between Minth Group Ltd and AISIN Corporation, one of Japan’s largest Tier 1 automotive suppliers, great news for the city.
Tuesday's announcement marked the second phase of an initial a $300-million investment of a manufacturing plant already underway at 5000 Cabana Road East on 54 acres at the Windsor International Airport.
A second 150,000 sq. ft. facility will be constructed along with Minth's 379-thousand sq. ft. facility.
The new site is expected to generate hundreds of new jobs to produce key aluminum, steel, and polymer-based parts for electric vehicle platforms across North America.
Drew Dilkens said he views phase two as a sign of strength that the companies see in Windsor's workforce.
He said Windsor is very fortunate to have available land at the airport site for when opportunities like this arise.
"If we didn't have it the company would go somewhere else, it's just plain and simple, they cannot wait two or three years for cities, and communities to put together land and servicing, and everything else. The fact that we're ready to go presents these opportunities, and we're able to capitalize them as soon as they're available. This is great news for Windsor," Dilkens said.
Dilkens said the two companies are not letting the trade conflict between Canada and the United States get in the way of accessing Windsor's skilled workforce.
"What you see here are multi-billion dollar global companies with factories around the world looking beyond the politics and saying 'we see opportunities here, regardless of the politics, we know that the countries will have to come up with an agreement that makes sense for both countries, and we think we can benefit'," he said.
Dilkens said the city is still pursuing $6-billion worth of projects.
"We're being very choosy on who we go after and the offers that we make, recognizing that we don't have infinite land available, and we want to make sure we get the best return on our investment, so we are putting the City of Windsor in a great position to be able to service and expand the airport land, which means companies like who are looking to make investments and hire a thousand plus people in the community, we are ready to go at their speed," Dilkens said.
1,100 direct jobs were expected to be created as a result of the partnership between Minth and AISIN, according to officials.
Minth Group says it continues to work closely with Rosati Construction as the design-builder for their new Windsor manufacturing facility, including all plans for future plant expansion.
The project has and will continue to leverage the Rosati fast-track program, an approach that allows construction to begin while design is still in progress.