Congressman Dan Kildee announced new legislation to develop the old Buick City, which has been shuttered for more than a decade.
The Rust to Revitalization Act would allow Buick City and other former industrial and brownfields sites across the country to qualify as opportunity zones, Kildee stated “What Buick City needs now are some additional tools, additional incentives to spur the kind of economic growth that we know can put this land back to productive use.”
The opportunity zones program was created in 2017 to help older, industrial cities and towns such as Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City by giving investors preferential tax treatment on investments in areas that qualify.
Kildee notes that some of the most in-need sites, such as Buick City, were not eligible to be designated as opportunity zones. Buick City has no permanent residents, meaning it didn’t meet the definition of a “low-income community.”
“What our legislation will do is take the sites that fit this definition and automatically designate them as opportunity zones by law,” Kildee said.
Tyler Rossmaessler, executive director of the Flint and Genesee Economic Alliance, supports Kildee’s bill. He thinks Buick City is a wonderful opportunity for the right investor. “On-site rail, broadband, connections to the freeway, significant water and sewer infrastructure, and is in the heart of a city that’s ready to make things,” Rossmaessler said.
Buick City is a former automotive manufacturing facility that General Motors used from the early 1900s. prior to becoming GM, to make automobiles and transmission and engine components. The last Buick LeSabres and Pontiac Bonnevilles rolled off the line in 2010.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley is optimistic that one day, thanks to people like Kildee, the 413-acre parcel of land will have a meaningful purpose again. “Revitalizing these sites and providing opportunities for the future. That is real leadership,” Neeley said.
As for Kildee, he is hopeful lawmakers in Washington will pass his bill to pave the way for the revitalization of brownfields across the country and in the Vehicle City. “To look at a site as expansive as this, and having those additional incentives, I think gives us the opportunity to fight for the jobs that we know our community needs and that our residents would benefit from,” Kildee said.
The Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust currently owns Buick City and is working to complete the necessary environmental cleanup work for the entire 413-acre site.
