$100M investment breathes new life into defunct Owens-Brockway glass factory near Lansing
CHARLOTTE — Nearly 15 years ago, as America's use of glass bottles for pop and jars for food increasingly gave way to plastic, one of the city's largest employers closed up shop.
As many as 300 people lost their jobs at the sprawling Owens-Brockway plant, a major economic hit for the small Eaton County community.
Some of those jobs are expected to return soon.
The owner of the long-vacant 650,000-square-foot facility off East Packard Highway is expected to reopen it this year with plans to manufacture aluminum drink cans at the property.
When Michigan Can Lines LLC opens at 500 E. Packard Hwy. it is expected to employ 125 and 150 people, Charlotte Mayor Tim Lewis said.
Bryan Myrkle, Charlotte's community development director, said company officials have indicated they are making an investment of $100 million at the property.
He said the company has not indicated to city officials what the pay range for jobs at the facility will be. The company received no tax breaks for the project, Metcalf said.
"They're going to start with a single production line of aluminum cans and use the balance of the facility for managing that product through warehouse and distribution," he said. "They're going to be dealing with millions and millions of cans at a single time."
Site has been vacant since 2010
Owens-Brockway was a subsidiary of Owens-Illinois Group, Inc., which manufactured glass containers for the food and beverage industry in Charlotte. The company operated at the property for 40 years before closing the plant in 2010. An estimated 250 to 300 employees lost their jobs at the plant. The site has been vacant since.
A limited liability company, 500 Packard Highway, LLC, bought the property in 2019 for just over $3.1 million.
Marcus Braman, a consultant working with the company, declined to speak about the specifics of the project. Messages were left with company officials.
The company has been remodeling and renovating the property and the facility, Myrkle said, and its officials have indicated intentions of being operational this summer. The city received a site plan for the facility this week but staff haven't reviewed or approved it yet, he said.
That approval will either be considered by staff or the city's Planning Commission "depending on what we see in those plans," Myrkle said.
"They're trying to bring it online as soon as they can," he said.
Brandy Miller, zoning administrator and code enforcement officer for Eaton County, said the company hasn't received its final occupancy certificate yet, "which would require final approval of all of their permits, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and building. They are making great headway on all of their permits and on all of their inspections."
It's unclear when the company will receive final occupancy, Miller said.
"We do not know how close we are because it's dependent on the work that they're doing," she said.
Coming full circle
Myrkle said the plans for the facility bring the property full circle after years of vacancy and neglect.
"It was just the empty shell of a building with water coming in through the roof and now it's got a new rebirth," he said. "It could have been anything and it's ending up in a very similar spot. Whereas before it was making glass jars, now it's making aluminum cans. It was a huge eyesore sitting vacant and now it's going to be a beautiful new 21st century facility."
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Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Aluminum can firm plans to revive long-closed Charlotte Owens-Brockway factory
