It was announced today that C3 Venture will invest $9.68 million to acquire the 17.69-acre site on James P. Cole Boulevard where it will manufacture plastic parts for Tesla Motors. C3 Venture Flint, LLC is a private company that manufactures interior plastic automotive components. The company will be moving into the Riverview Industrial Park in Flint and hire nearly 400 new employees.
C3 has many diversified holdings, including real estate, manufacturing, and others. C3 stands for: clean air, clean water, clear soil. According to Bob Schaffer, Chairman and Founder of C3 Venture, their central mission is producing parts for zero-emission electric vehicles; they strive to be good environmental stewards in all aspects.
The company will occupy the office building, as well as the industrial building, where it will install injection molding machines and tooling to manufacture parts. C3 intends to use recycled plastic bottles for the injection molding process to manufacture the plastic components.
Construction set-up on the site is expected to begin in September, and production expected to begin in early October. Initially, C3 Venture will employ 50 people in the first year; this number will grow to 400 employees as operations expand. C3 Venture will work with GST Michigan Works! as the company seeks to hire employees.
Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce CEO, Tim Herman, stated that this will help Flint exceed its goal of creating 1,000 new jobs in the area.
“The 380 jobs that C3 has committed are part of a broader jobs goal announced earlier this year by Mission Flint,” Herman stated. “In addition, we’re seeing a valuable piece of industrial real estate being returned to productive use. And that’s a strong indicator that Flint is, indeed, open for business.”
Today, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) awarded C3 Venture a $5.7 million performance-based loan, which may be converted to a grant if the company meets job-creation expectations.
Of the emerging project, Mayor Weaver said, “This type of investment, and the jobs that it will create for our residents, will help Flint prosper once again. Job growth will fuel Flint’s economy. On behalf of all Flint residents, I am grateful to C3 for recognizing the opportunity that exists here in Flint and to the MEDC for its financial backing.”
“Flint is a manufacturing town,” said Schaffer. “Manufacturing is embedded in Flint’s heritage and the work ethic here is strong. For those reasons, you could say that Flint chose C3.”
For more information about careers with C3 Ventures Flint, you can contact Sherry Goble at GST Michigan Works! via e-mail: sgoble@gstmiworks.org or phone: 810.233.5974 x353.
Photography by Eric Dutro
