Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., and the City of Hammond’s Economic Development team, is proud to announce that a development agreement between the Lear Corporation and the City of Hammond will be presented for approval to the Hammond Redevelopment Commission on Tuesday, July 18th. This agreement represents months of negotiations to keep Hammond’s 4th largest employer in the City and utilizes a parcel, located on the north side of Michigan St. (just across from the South Shore Station) that has been vacant for a long time.
Lear’s new, 240,000 sq ft, plant will represent a $30 million investment into the City of Hammond. There will be 750 jobs in this new location, as well as the opportunity for expansion of the plant, with additional jobs to be created as well, should the demand warrant needed additional space.
The development agreement calls for an incentive of $4 million to be provided to the Lear Corp, by the City of Hammond. Considering the size of Lear’s investment into this new facility ($30 million), Hammond officials think that a $4 million incentive makes economic sense given that there are so many well-paying jobs that are to be maintained at the Hammond location because of these investments.
“Knowing Lear’s past success in our city, we hope that this much bigger 30 acre site will allow for future expansion and additional job creation” stated Hammond’s Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. “Hammond’s Economic Development team has been working on this project for hundreds of hours over the past year. We were in competition with many other communities around the Chicagoland area for this employer, so I am proud that Hammond was chosen as Lear’s new location. I want to congratulate Hammond’s Director of Planning and Development, Phil Taillon, and Hammond’s Director of Economic Development, Africa Tarver, for their persistence in landing this project for the residents of Hammond. Losing Lear would have been a blow to Hammond’s economy. Instead, we will receive a new investment of $30 million, and hundreds of new jobs as well. This is a great day for our city.”