Flex-N-Gate to prioritize Detroiters for 400 jobs at new auto parts plant.

Construction of 450,00-square-foot plant is 60 percent complete.

Earlyproduction on metal-stamping presses to begin in April.

Auto part supplier Flex-N-Gate has committed to hiring Detroiters first for the 400 jobs the company is creating with the construction of a new parts plant in the city's I-94 Industrial Park that's expected to begin early metal-stamping production by April.

"That's our commitment," Flex-N-Gate owner Shahid Khan said Monday after giving Mayor Mike Duggan a tour of the 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

Khan said starting wages for the jobs would be announced at a later date.

But the Pakistani immigrant and billionaire owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars voiced support for a $20-per-hour national minimum wage.

"I believe to break the cycle of violence or poverty we need to do that," Khan told reporters. "That probably would be a living wage that would give people the money where it's more productive to do that than resort to other things."

Khan said employees at his company's existing plants in Allen Park, Royal Oak and Warren are paid "close to" a minimum wage of $20-per-hour "plus benefits."

"We've always paid health care for employees, going back a long time," he said.

Focus: Hope will train Flex-N-Gate hires through the city's Detroit At Work workforce development program.