Michigan Ranks No. 4 In Nation For New Facilities

This is nice to hear.

LANSING - Although Michigan ranks near the bottom of all states in unemployment rates, it remains near the top of Site Selection magazine's Governor's Cup rankings just behind Texas, Ohio and Illinois.

The rankings track new facilities and expansions worth at least $1 million with 50 or more new jobs, a group that included 505 projects in the state in 2005.

The number of projects in Michigan trailed the 842 in Texas, 598 in Ohio and 510 in Illinois last year, and was above the 412 in North Carolina. The projects, submitted to the magazine by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, included a Hyundai-Kia Technical Center in Superior Township, Toyota Technical Center in York Township, Hemlock Semiconductor in Thomas Township, Detroit Diesel in Redford Township and Smiths Aerospace in Grand Rapids.

Since the magazine was founded in 1997, Michigan has consistently been among the top-ranked states and won several Governor's Cups. Over that period, it is the only state that had more than 11,000 projects on the list (the 11,387 projects easily topped the 7,987 in second-place California) and Detroit was the 4th best metro area with 208 projects.