Critics Blast $6B Mundy Township Megasite Deal as Costly Failure for Michigan Taxpayers

Critics say Michigan’s economic development agency acted as a lobbyist for private interests while residents were kept in the dark.

LANSING, Mich. — James Hohman of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy told lawmakers this week that Michigan must learn hard lessons from the failed $6 billion incentive deal to lure SanDisk to a proposed megasite in Mundy Township.

Hohman, the center’s director of fiscal policy, testified that state officials overstepped by promising billions in subsidies without legislative approval. He noted that only about $259 million of the package had been authorized by law, while the remaining $5.9 billion depended on new programs and appropriations. “This was not an agency administering existing law,” Hohman said. “It was lobbying on behalf of a private company for more.”

The project envisioned a massive semiconductor manufacturing hub in Genesee County. State leaders pledged infrastructure improvements and site preparation, including bulldozing homes and churches. Residents reported signing nondisclosure agreements and in some cases receiving more than double the market value for their properties. Critics said the secrecy shut taxpayers out of decisions that committed hundreds of millions in public funds.

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Hohman argued that site preparation costs guarantee taxpayer losses regardless of whether companies ever move in. “When you sign these deals, taxpayer money is spent for private benefit,” he said. He added that Michigan’s track record of converting job announcements into real employment is poor, citing estimates that the SanDisk deal would have added just 9,400 jobs over a decade — only 0.2% of the state’s workforce — at a cost equivalent to 4.6% of the annual state budget.

The Mundy Township megasite was intended to position Michigan competitively for large-scale manufacturing, similar to projects in Ohio and Kentucky. Instead, the collapse of the SanDisk negotiations left residents frustrated and lawmakers questioning whether the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s approach is sustainable. Hohman urged the Legislature to demand transparency, outlaw nondisclosure agreements in economic development deals, and set clear standards for evaluating whether subsidies actually benefit the economy.

“This project proposed to have a substantial effect on the state budget without having a substantial effect on the state economy,” Hohman told the committee. “We ought to be skeptical of promises that don’t add up.”