SOUTHFIELD – The Southfield City Council has approved the creation of an Industrial Development District and economic development incentives for TelNet Worldwide Inc., paving the way for a $37 million investment in a now vacant building on Lahser Road.
“Southfield is increasingly considered the high-tech hub of southeastern Michigan,” said Mayor Brenda Lawrence. High technology businesses, as well as health-care related companies, are expected to be the focus of the city’s future economy.
“More than 350 high-technology, information technology and telecommunications firms already call Southfield home,” Lawrence said. “High-tech companies choose Southfield for our extensive infrastructure, suitable climate, abundance of skilled workers and central location that provides easy access to the entire metro area and the international borders of Canada.”
TelNet Worldwide, a telecommunications and information technology company, purchased the 41,148-square-foot facility, located at 21005 Lahser Road in 2011, with the intention to develop it as a Tier III wholesale data center, which will serve several tenants.
The interior of the facility was never finished and has been vacant for several years – requiring a complete interior build-out to meet the design requirements of a Tier III data center. TelNet will make a capital investment of approximately $37 million in real and personal property by 2015 and add up to 40 full-time employees with an average annual salary of $67,000 over the same period.
Staff, Observer & Eccentric.
