Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer turned the first spade of dirt for a $20 Million dollar, 80 unit apartment development on Riverview Drive in Benton Harbor. She joined Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer in making the project reality, even as it’s still in the approval phase with the Planning Commission and other formalities. Completion is projected for Fall, 2022.
Whitmer called the development an example of “government and private business working together in unmatched fashion.” Whirlpool is putting up the bulk of the funding for the project as an incentive for prospective employees to live in the City of Benton Harbor, where major Whirlpool offices and research facilities are located. The apartments will be directly across the street from Whirlpool’s Benton Harbor Tech Center and only a block from its North American Headquarters campus.
Whitmer said Whirlpool is “stepping up in remarkable ways for the benefit of its employees and the public.” She pointed out that small businesses on Main Street and Riverview Drive will be the prime beneficiaries of spending by more than 100 residents expected to be “at home” in the apartments by 2023. The governor added, “This is a win for Whirlpool and a win for Southwest Michigan.”
Whitmer called this “a unique project” because “Whirlpool has skin in the game,” investing its own capital to stimulate the project at this particular time and place, rather than waiting for free market forces. Those forces, private investors, have often been leery of investing in Benton Harbor in the past, making apartment developments almost unheard of in the city during the past 50 years.
The Democratic Governor seemed to be about “bi-partisanship” at the groundbreaking, heaping strong praise on longtime Republican Congressman Fred Upton, who spoke briefly. Upton credited Whirlpool Chairman Marc Bitzer for continuing the company tradition set by Bitzer’s two predecessors, David Whitwam and Jeff Fettig, of investing back into Whirlpool’s home community of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. Upton’s family founded Whirlpool more than 110 years ago.
