Kalamazoo job announcements

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - An announcement of 500 jobs for the city of Kalamazoo was supposed to be made in Lansing this morning.

Accretive Health, a medical building company, pulled the announcement late Monday without explanation. State officials still feel confident that the announcement will happen soon.

However, Graphics Packaging International did get the go ahead to expand.

For Michigan's Economic Growth Authority (MEGA), Tuesday's meeting in Lansing was the largest in the group's history, as it tried to single handedly stem the tide of bad economic new in Michigan.

Among the incentives passed to bring jobs into West Michigan, was a 160 jobs expansion from Graphics Packaging International. The expansion will cost $27 million.

Ron Kitchens, CEO of Southwest Michigan First told NEWSCHANNEL 3 that "five or six years ago they told us the paper industry was dead, Kalamazoo should give up on it, Graphics Packaging has been a huge new investment, hiring 160 new people, continuing to grow the paper industry in the community and I would wager that this isn't the last expansion of a paper company we're going to see."

Graphics Packaging had looked at Ohio for expansion but MEGA gave them nearly $3 million in incentives to expand in Kalamazoo. The company currently employs over 700 people in Michigan.