Auto supplier plant coming to former Detroit area mall site

Automotive supplier Thai Summit Corp. is planning to open a 297,000-square-foot parts plant at the redeveloped site formerly home to Eastland Center mall in a Detroit suburb.

The Thai company, which has a massive plant in Howell, Mich., 65 miles west of Detroit, signed a seven-year lease for the first of three buildings being constructed by NorthPoint Development, said Mark Koenigsknecht, senior development manager at NorthPoint, which is based in Riverside, Mo.

The plant is expected to house light industrial manufacturing and assembly by the supplier, which specializes in metal stamping, value-added assembly and tool-and-die building. A 4,000- to 5,000-square-foot office will also be in the space, Koenigsknecht said.

Welcoming a large supplier plant will be a first for Harper Woods and will hopefully mark a new beginning, said John Szymanski, city manager.

"We're excited. It's been a long time since the city had any real redevelopment coming in," he said. "We've been a city that has survived on retail, and that has gone away."

Production launch at the plant is expected in the first quarter of next year. It is not clear how many jobs will be created or what will be invested. Thai Summit could not be reached for comment.

The $94 million redevelopment project for Eastland Commerce Center started in mid-2022 after NorthPoint was given the go-ahead to level the mall, which opened in 1957 and suffered a steep decline and loss of anchor stores in its final years.

After falling into foreclosure in 2016, the mall was sold to Kohan Retail Investment Group, based in Great Neck, N.Y., and 4th Dimension Properties, which paid $3.1 million for a large chunk of the mall in 2018.

Thai Summit operates a 1.2-million-square-foot plant near Howell to support North American automotive production. The company supplies major class A stamping and assembly components around the world, according to its website. "The Howell facility is the first manufacturer in North America to introduce remote laser welding and utilize entire surface imaging for timely communication with customers," it said.

The Eastland Commerce Center is composed of three industrial buildings spanning about 1 million square feet and is anticipated to be done by mid-2024. Koenigsknecht said there has been high interest in the other two buildings. He said he expects an uptick in leasing activity following the end of the United Auto Workers strike, which put lots of deals on ice.

"I'm hoping with the automotive stuff leveling out as far as the strike goes, we'll see a lot more activity here before the end of the year."