(WWJ) A $30 million training facility for carpenters and millwrights is coming to Detroit’s west side.
The Michigan Statewide Carpenters and Millwrights Joint Apprenticeship and Training Fund broke ground on the facility Wednesday near Oakman Boulevard.
The seven-acre, 147,000-square-foot complex will bring together all administrative and training operations under one roof—consolidating activity currently conducted in Warren, Ferndale, Livonia and the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit. You can see video of the groundbreaking here.
“For Detroit residents, this school will be an opportunity to start a lifelong career in the skilled trades, debt-free,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in the press release. “With all of the construction that is coming to Detroit, this school could not come at a better time.”
It will include a 30-booth weld shop, a flooring manipulation area, “high bay space for carpenters and millwrights with an overhead crane, and state-of-the-art classrooms with smart board technology;” according to the release.
Tom Lutz, executive secretary-treasurer of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, said it will be the “largest” school of its kind in the state.
It will also serve as a space for career fairs, carpentry symposiums and other community events.
In the release, Duggan called the construction a “a huge transformation in a well-deserved neighborhood.”
The SSOE Group has signed on as the lead architect, and the Christman Company is the general contractor.
Officials say the project is expected to be completed by summer of next year.
“Even a global pandemic can’t stop a union carpenter or millwright,” Lutz said in the release. “We know Detroiters have that kind of work ethic and mindset, too.”