Just how good will it get?

With reports that the nation is in a recession and Michigan’s economic woes mounting, there’s a glimmer of hope in the greater Kalamazoo area.

Make that five glimmers. Since the start of the new calendar year, four businesses have revealed plans for positive growth and development. AT&T, Fabri-Kal, Kaiser Aluminum and Parker Aerospace have announced that expanding their services will bring hundreds of new jobs to the area. On top of that, a startup medical device company, Monteris Medical Inc. is making noise about putting an office here.

Incredibly, community leaders are braced for even more good news in mid- to late-April, but they're keeping it under wraps to let it move through proper channels.
Some community leaders are more giddy than others, but few doubt that Kalamazoo is bucking a trend.

In February AT&T announced plans to expand its customer service center in downtown Kalamazoo. Headquartered on Lovell Street, AT&T employs 250 people. Currently, 140 positions exist for customer-service representatives. About 110 additional customer-service positions will be created as AT&T expands it services to offer residential telephone, broadband and U-Verse video service. Their new services will help the company to better compete with cable giants Comcast and Charter Communications.

Fabri-Kal,a privately held company located on Cork Street also announced expansion. The manufacturer of plastic and corn-based food packaging products has approximately 115 employees and plans to relocate to the former Mead Paper Company site, which has been vacant since 2001. As part of a $41 million expansion, Fabri-Kal plans to transform the Mead building into a state-of-the-art design and manufacturing facility and create 160 to 200 new jobs.

Another vacant manufacturing site in Kalamazoo, the former General Motors Corp. metal stamping plant, will see new life. Kaiser Aluminum, a $1.3 billion, California-based producer of fabricated aluminum products plans to operate an aluminum-extrusion operation at the Midlink Business Park in Comstock Township. As the new location develops, Kaiser Aluminum plans to invest $80 million in the community and bring 300 new jobs to the area within the year.

In recent months Kalamazoo’s Parker Aerospace has landed a $1 billion share of a new contract with international aircraft maker Airbus, and a $200 million pact to build controls for a new Mitsubishi airplane. Part of Cleveland-based Parker-Hannifin Corp., Parker Aerospace employs approximately 600 local workers, thanks to work the division has been doing for various companies, including Boeing, Co. While the number of new jobs has not been announced, it is expected that more engineers and manufacturers will be needed at the Kalamazoo location to support the new contracts.

As of December 2007, Kalamazoo’s unemployment rate of 5.1% sat several points below Michigan’s all time high of 7.4%. With new jobs, contracts and expansions in the area, it’s possible that Kalamazoo could lead the upswing for economic revival across the state.