Systems in Motion chooses Valley Ranch office for expansion into Ann Arbor area
Systems in Motion - the tech company that announced this morning it would hire over 1,000 people at its new office in the region - will move into 8,000 square feet of office space in Valley Ranch Business Park.
Pittsfield Township Supervisor Mandy Grewal disclosed the location this afternoon, following an initial announcement from the state that said the company would open in an undisclosed township location.
Systems in Motion will use a seven-year, $7.4 million state tax credit to establish a $15 million operation, growing it to an estimated 1,085 employees within five years.
California-based Systems in Motion is an information technology services company. Local officials describe the decision to open in the Ann Arbor area as "on-shoring," or the reverse of shipping technology support jobs to other countries.
Once fully functional in this region, Systems In Motion could be the area's largest IT employer.
After a months-long search, the new office landed at Valley Ranch, a 250,000-square-foot complex near Ellsworth and Lohr roads owned by The McMullen Companies. The business park is located across Ellsworth from the northwest corner of the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport.
Ted McMullen said he planned to meet with SIM officials Wednesday and Thursday to finalize details of the move into the building known as The Ponds South.
The office had been vacant since the former Proquest consolidated its operations several years ago. Additional offices in the buildings are under lease to Aernnova Engineering US Inc, an aerospace company that opened in 2007 in Ann Arbor.
Both Aernova and SIM worked with Ann Arbor SPARK to open facilities in Ann Arbor.
"I'm thrilled at how Ann Arbor SPARK is really having an influence on bringing companies into the state," McMullen said.
At year-end 2008, the area's office vacancy rate was 14.75 percent, while the South market - including Valley Ranch - was 19.92 percent, according to Swisher Commercial.
With this deal, McMullen estimates that Valley Ranch vacancy is about 16 percent vacant.
Comments
81wolverine
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 : 12:27 p.m.
The wording of this article is not correct (I believe) where it says, ".....to establish a $15 million operation." Yesterday's article said the company would invest $15 million of it's own money in addition to the $7.4 million tax credit. Presumably, the local operation will generate quite a bit more than $15 million in revenue when it reaches over 1,000 employees.
JBlackburn
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 : 9:51 a.m.
Having Systems In Motion here is a win, win win. First win is more jobs, more money in our economy and more tax revenue for our community. Second win is the valuable resource for Michigan business and government. Managing IT costs via the use of local outsourcing will help Michigan business be more competitive. And by outsourcing locally, the jobs stay here in Michigan. Our local government can also leverage their use of local IT outsourcing and help reduce their IT management costs. With less money coming from Lansing, cities and townships need to find creative ways to reduce costs without reducing services. Local outsourcing can do this. Third win is having a company like Systems In Motion locate here and the evolving technology of cloud computing. With the advent of high-speed communications and host based applications, businesses no longer have to maintain their own server farms and data centers. This technology model of cloud computing will continue to evolve, making it more affordable and growing in market size. As their market grows Systems In Motion should also grow. Welcome to Washtenaw County!
CaitlinPhillips
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 : 6:25 a.m.
How exciting! Big thanks to SPARK, for working so diligently with what we have in Michigan to create employment locally! Nicely done.... Welcome, we are sure you will fall in love with our town.
Steve Feinman
Tue, Sep 22, 2009 : 7:17 p.m.
"Systems in Motion will use a seven-year, $7.4 million state tax credit to establish a $15 million operation, growing it to an estimated 1,085 employees within five years" 'nough said. They have no skin in the game.