SOUTH BEND ― The groundwork that was completed over the past several years helped St. Joseph County win the proposed $3.5 billion EV battery plant that GM plans to build with Samsung SDI on about 650 acres east of New Carlisle.

“Projects like this don’t happen without phenomenal partners, and St. Joe County has been a real driver in this project for quite some time,” said Jeff Rea, president and CEO of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce. 

Rea hosted a hastily organized press conference Tuesday morning following an announcement from Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb that GM and Samsung had chosen a site at State Road 2 and Larrison Boulevard to build the new plant that's scheduled for completion in 2026.

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“I go back to 2017 when the county began the process of securing options on these properties, doing the due diligence for the properties, hiring private consultants to do the legwork,” Rea said.

“That really elevated this site to the top of user’s attention,” he continued. “In fact, we’ve had almost every major project in the country looking at this site in the past couple of years because of the good work that the county did.”

Rea cited the support of current and past commissioners and members of County Council, commissioners and the team headed by Bill Schalliol, the county’s executive director of economic development.

Rea was joined at the press conference by Commissioners Carl Baxmeyer and Derek Dieter as well as a handful of members of County Council. He indicated there will likely be a larger event in the future to mark the beginning of the project, which could get under way in the third quarter this year and employ about 2,000 construction workers.

Ultimately, the plant will employ at least 1,600 workers with an average hourly wage of $24 an hour. Those jobs would create an economic impact of $600 million a year in the local economy, according to information compiled by the chamber.

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“This is the single largest investment and job commitment in St. Joe County in the last 75 years,” Baxmeyer said, adding that the region has a strong history of innovation connected to the automotive industry. “As the industry evolves, we are thrilled that we are once again the center of innovation in this transformative time.”

Baxmeyer also thanked the efforts of the state and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which is working with GM and Samsung SDI to finalize a performance-based incentive offer. Indiana Michigan Power and Northern Indiana Public Service Co. have offered additional incentives.

The county previously approved an abatement package worth $332 million for the project, but Schalliol has pointed out that GM will reimburse the county about $4.5 million over the next 10 years to pay back the infrastructure improvements.

In addition, the company will still pay about $329 million in taxes over the next 25 years as the abatements are phased out.

Dieter pointed out the efforts not only to make the project come to fruition, but to consider the concerns of residents in Olive Township and New Carlisle in developing the land in recent years.

"County government listened to people out in that area,” he said. “And because of that, we all worked together collectively.”

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In a release early Tuesday morning, Holcomb cited GM investment throughout the state. On Monday, the company announced it would invest $632 million in its Fort Wayne plant.

“This historic investment is further proof that Indiana has turned it up and shifted into a higher gear when it comes to helping create the future of mobility and more customer options out on the open road,” Holcomb added.

Rea said the decision by GM sets the groundwork for the possibility of additional tenants in the land surrounding the EV battery complex as he expects some suppliers will be interested in locating near the plant. He doesn't expect there will be a big time lag before some of those decisions are made.

Email Tribune staff writer Ed Semmler at esemmler@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joe County officials laud efforts to land EV battery plant