EAST LANSING, Mich. — The German auto company ATESTEO is considering East Lansing as a site for its North American headquarters.
ATESTEO provides drivetrain testing services for the auto industry.
With the help of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, ATESTEO connected with Michigan State University, which helped the company see the potential in the area.
ATESTEO is looking at a building on West Road where they would spend $700,000 to expand the building and $26 million on machinery and equipment over a five year period.
The city is being asked to cut property taxes in half and exempt machinery and equipment for ten years. If the city approves the incentives, they could see around $18,000 in real property tax revenue and $205,000 in employee income tax revenue over the first ten years.
The ATESTEO project would create 46 engineering and technical jobs in the first three years of operation.
LEAP Vice President of Business Attractions Keith Lambert said at an East Lansing City Council meeting Tuesday that this is an exciting opportunity for the state.
“The perspective opportunity we’re talking about is foreign direct investment and when we think about economic development this is very much the top of the pyramid," Lambert said. "All of the economic activity that comes from attracting foreign direct investment is brand new to East Lansing, brand new to the Lansing region, brand new to Michigan, brand new to the United States even.”
In competition with East Lansing for the headquarter location is Ohio and South Carolina. No action has been taken on the project by City Council. Public hearings will need to be scheduled before acting on the tax requests.
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