BORDER BONANZA
Optimism abounds over planned Foxconn plant in southern Wisconsin along I- 94
Ghost towns to boom towns?
From far north suburban Waukegan to Racine, Wisconsin, once- thriving communities with empty storefronts are hoping for huge, positive changes should Taiwanese electronics supplier Foxconn follow through on plans to build a sprawling factory somewhere in southeastern Wisconsin, most likely along the Interstate 94 corridor.
The company made national headlines over the past week by signing a memorandum of understanding with Wisconsin officials for the facility that would make flatpanel display screens for televisions and other electronics.
Foxconn has agreed to invest up to $ 10 billion to build a factory three times the size of the Pentagon that would create up to 13,000 jobs with average salaries of $ 53,875.
But Wisconsin legislators will have to go into special session to approve a hefty $ 3 billion in tax credits before the project can get started.
Foxconn is seeking at least 1.5- square- mile site— roughly the same size as the suburbs of Park City or Clarendon Hills — to build its 20 millionsquare- foot factory. Though officials have yet to announce a location, the Milwaukee JournalSentinel has reported the factory needs access to Lake Michigan water, meaning the likely site is somewhere on the east side of Racine or Kenosha counties.
Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou on Thursday told the Journal- Sentinel the company chose southeastern Wisconsin in part because Milwaukee is the center of the U. S. and Chicago is a global hub. He also noted southeastern Wisconsin’s proximity to O’Hare Airport.
But critics have warned the company has made big plans before, which never came to fruition. In 2013, Foxconn said it would invest $ 30 million and hire 500 workers for a factory in Pennsylvania that was never built.
Despite that — and the hefty tax incentives Foxconn will command — the company’s promise of thousands of jobs seems to have residents from Lake County north to Milwaukee brimming with optimism.
‘ On the map’
Once known as “Kringleville” for its flaky Danish pastry, the economically chal-