More finalizing was done Friday in the Foxconn deal in Mount Pleasant. Leaders signed a local development agreement to solidify the deal. Now, it's time to buy the land to build the plant.
Mount Pleasant's village president said some of the land sales will begin shortly after the first of the year with plans to break ground in April. We found for some land owners, their deal is essentially already done. Mike Harmann and his wife have lived on a 16-acre plot along Highway H for thirty years.
"Just to get out of the city," Harmann said.
On Friday, county and village leaders took the last step to finalize the Foxconn deal. They signed off on a $10 billion manufacturing plant that will be built along I-94 between Highway 11 and KR in Mount Pleasant.
"I think all of us together are making history," said Foxconn Executive Dr. Louis Woo.
It means dozens of landowners including Harmann will have to sell their land and leave.
"We're not complaining about it too much, but then again we didn't really want to move we just got done redoing the kitchen and the bathroom and making the bathroom so it's accessible for us when we get older," Harmann said.
Mount Pleasant's village president Dave DeGroot said those who own large swaths of land within the area of phase one will get $50,000 an acre. However, that isn't the set rate for those who don't have much to sell.
"Every homeowner whether they have an acre or they have many acres are going to be dealt with in a very fair fashion and I'm sure they'll be happy by the time we're done," he said.
Harmann hired a realtor and knows how much they'll get. He said their only question now is when they'll have to move.
"We don't know, they haven't said yet," he said.
Residents will have 90 days to move out after the sale of their land. Mount Pleasant leaders told TODAY’S TMJ4 not all land owners where the plant will be built will have to sell right away, just the ones in the immediate area of construction.
Foxconn is already making televisions in Mount Pleasant. Our partners at the Milwaukee Business Journal report Foxconn has leased a building where 30 employees are already assembling TVs.
