Flint was once an amazing place, and it is still known as Vehicle City. General Motors brought people to Flint from many different areas.

But in the early 2000s, many GM factories around Flint, including other plants associated with GM, closed, and the Flint and Burton communities suffered.

But a new GM facility is bringing some hope for those communities.

Construction workers are building a new plant on the corner of Genesee and Davison roads.

Officially, it’ the GM CCA Davison Road Processing Center, and it will function as a warehousing and logistics facility.

GM will lease the new facility, which will be more than one million square feet, from North Pointe Development of Kansas City

The new GM facility should benefit the community.

In an exclusive Eclipse interview, the mayor of Burton, Ms. Paula Zelenko, said the new GM facility will potentially offer more jobs and help local businesses.

“With more people coming to the community, this will also benefit businesses around the community with more people living in Flint,” Zelenko said.

In a WEYI Channel 25 story, Mr. Tim Turvey, Global Vice President of GM CCA, said workers will come from the old plant on Davison Road in Flint and will be transferred to the new one in Burton.

“I can say we’re retaining 700 people, and there will be new jobs later,” Turvey said.

The new GM facility will also bring new tax revenue to Burton, but GM will get a reduced tax rate for more than a decade.

“The factory will get a 50 percent discount on what they would normally pay for 12 years,” Zelenko said. “This will help them with getting started.”

With more tax revenue, it should help the community, including schools.

Mr. Jason Taylor, journeyman electrician, said local construction workers are benefiting from the project.

“My opinion of the new plant is that it is good because it’s putting many local construction workers to work on the site,” Taylor said.  “The workers get to come home to their families every night.”

Taylor said the Flint and Burton communities will benefit from the construction.

“I think that it will benefit the community having a new building going up among all the old and vacant ones, giving hope that the Flint area can be rebuilt,” Taylor said.