Thursday, April 5, 2001

BY MARILYN TRUMPER-SAMRA
NEWS SPECIAL WRITER

SALEM TOWNSHIP - Johnson Controls Inc. bought 360 acres at Napier and Ann Arbor roads as a possible site for its new automotive world headquarters, company spokesman Bill Dawson said Wednesday.

He declined to say how much the company paid.

"We closed on the property, but we are still looking at other sites," Dawson said.

"We are looking at issues with that property, trying to decide what we want to do, how to develop it, and we have some decisions to make," he said.

It's unclear if any agreements forged with Salem Township by the property's previous owner, REI, transfer to JCI, Dawson said.

REI had proposed a 310-home subdivision on the land, in acreage designated as a Special Services District that would allow sanitary sewers, if capacity became available. So far, the township, REI and JCI have not won any commitments from sewer system providers.

With REI out of the picture, it also appears a referendum vote under way by slow-growth supporters designed to nullify that development will no longer be needed.

JCI, now located in Plymouth Township near Beck and M-14, employs 1,700 people whom company officials have indicated would be moved to the Salem site, should it be developed.

The $17 billion global company is based in Milwaukee, and specializes in manufacturing vehicle interiors.