Furniture supplier planning new facility

Furniture supplier planning new facility

Courtesy city of Cedar Springs

A manufacturer of adjustable-height table bases is considering building a new production facility in the area.

J-Star Motion Corporation is looking to build a 275,000-square-foot facility that would create 50 jobs, according to federal grant application documents.

The facility would be constructed on a portion of 55 acres of undeveloped land at 725 and 730 West St.

The construction project would cost $22 million, and new equipment would cost $5 million, according to the documents.

The company and its plans are listed among those that could benefit from a recent federal grant of $872,220 to the city — toward a $1.7 million infrastructure improvement project to make the 55 acres accessible.

The company says it has 35 employees and is on the way to about 70 in the next 15 months, but it cannot grow in its current space.

The 55 acres were formerly used as the city’s wastewater treatment lagoon from 1965 to 1999, when the lagoons were closed, according to Cedar Springs City Manager Mike Womack.

No projects on the 55 acres are officially planned through the city, Womack said.

The document, dated Oct. 29, 2018, says the company had hoped to purchase land in the following few months and begin building this summer.

Michael Fedrigo, general manager of J-Star Motion Corporation, said: “Star Motion Corporation has been operating out of leased space in Cedar Springs since January 2018. We do have a long-term lease and do not plan to move anytime soon. At some point in the future, as the business grows, we hope to build our own facility. We see the site at the south end of West Street in Cedar Springs as a very desirable location when the need for expansion arises.”

J-Star’s parent company, Xinchang, China-based Jiecang Linear, announced plans in 2017 to establish operations at 500 West St. in Cedar Springs in 2017, according to a previous Business Journal report.

J-Star’s official headquarters is in California, but its only production facility and the majority of its employees are in Cedar Springs, Fedrigo said.