In Mundy Township, just south of Flint Bishop International Airport, hundreds of acres of once-quiet neighborhoods have been scraped bare for a megasite that still has no tenant. Michigan has quietly poured roughly $261 million into assembling a 1,300-acre, two-square-mile industrial site, buying more than 150 homes and tearing down nearly half of them even though no factory has signed on. Inside state government, the push carried the code name Project Grit, and it has left displaced residents and local officials demanding to know how, why and for whom it all happened.
A four-month investigation by Bridge Michigan found that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and local partners steered roughly $261.25 million into Project Grit to prep the land. The money went toward acquiring dozens of parcels and clearing out whole streets while state officials courted industrial prospects under a web of nondisclosure agreements.
How The Money Was Spent
State documents and local reporting show that the award covered big-ticket line items for land, demolition and professional help, according to Macomb Daily. The largest share, about $217 million, went to buying property. Roughly $26.6 million was set aside for demolitions, with the balance covering surveys, contract management, and farmland acquisitions tied to the project.
Offers, NDAs And Secrecy
Behind the scenes, officials worked with potential megasite tenants under more than 100 nondisclosure agreements. Bridge Michigan reports that, at various points, the state weighed incentive packages that soared into the tens of billions of dollars, at one point as high as $27 billion. Homeowners who sold were frequently barred from talking about their deals while demolition crews moved in, and consultants were hired to manage public outreach and keep community blowback in check while negotiations unfolded.
Residents And Lawmakers Push Back
Neighbors who realized their properties sat in the path of the megasite launched a “No Megasite” campaign, gathering petitions and crowding township meetings as word spread, according to reporting distributed by the Associated Press. Local officials and state legislators have since blasted both the secretive process and the sheer scale of public spending, questioning whether taxpayers could be stuck with the tab if the site never lands a major employer, per CBS News Detroit.
What Comes Next
State leaders insist the Mundy Township tract is now shovel-ready and stress that landowners chose to sell. Even so, watchdogs and lawmakers are demanding a full accounting of how the money was used and who signed off on the mass buyouts. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports that the Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance had already run through hundreds of millions of dollars by late 2024, and legislators are weighing new oversight measures and possible policy changes in response.
Bulldozers are still chewing through remaining structures, yet the marquee industrial tenant that Project Grit was supposed to attract has never materialized, leaving a patchwork of empty lots where neighborhoods once stood. The state’s boost for the Mundy Township plan started with an original $250 million grant in 2024, and fresh investigative reporting is now intensifying pressure on officials to explain the timing, the scale of the incentives and whether the public can expect real answers or restitution.
