“So it’s got to feel right when we walk into a place.” “We’re a company that believes their home should be a place they love,” Oliver said. Outside of its corporate headquarters in Boston, the company has largely avoided larger metropolitan cities. “What we typically look for is a community not unlike Meridian Township, Lansing and East Lansing that is kind of ‘small big town,'" said Derek Oliver, director of government affairs and corporate responsibility at Wayfair. The retailer reportedly considered several alternate locations including other sites in Michigan, although Wayfair and LEAP officials declined to state which regions were in consideration. “The grant agreement will require the company to create and maintain 503 new jobs in Meridian Township, Ingham County over 3 years,” according to documents released by MEDC. Wayfair was approved Tuesday for a $1.76 million Michigan Business Development Program performance grant and a $750,000 Jobs Ready Michigan Program performance-based grant. The center will be one of nearly 10 customer service centers operated by Wayfair across the country, with others in places like Maine, Oregon and Utah. The company will occupy commercial space at 4700 S. Hagadorn Road in Meridian Township beginning as soon as next summer, after renovations are completed. “It’s about time we stepped up and started competing,” he said. The facility will provide support for orders placed on Wayfair in the United States and Canada.Īccording to Trezise, Greater Lansing and the state of Michigan as a whole have historically struggled to attract companies from outside of the state that aren't auto-related. Wayfair already operates a warehouse in Livonia with 26 employees. The Wayfair facility will be the company's first service center in the Midwest, but its second operation in Michigan. “It’s the best kind of economic development,” he said.
LEAP President and CEO Bob Trezise called Wayfair a “big get” for the region. The project, announced Tuesday by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., was in the works for a year with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, Michigan State University and other organizations joining together to pitch Greater Lansing to the company.
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