PONTIAC -- Pontiac's leaders say the city is on the verge of making major strides toward a comeback as a major economic hub in Metro Detroit.

The city's resurgence, however, won't be based on an over reliance on auto manufacturing this time, and instead supported by a series of developments and corporate moves diversifying its economy.

"Pontiac has come to represent the all too often told story about an urban center in America's heartland," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said at a Monday announcement.

"Pontiac is seeing a renewal."

Patterson broke ground on Auch Company, a 20,000-square-foot construction company at 65 University Drive, Pontiac, alongside Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Pontiac Mayor Deirdre Waterman, Rep. Tim Greimel, Auch Vice President Jim Munchiando and more on Thursday.

"It's really part of building a stronger community," Calley said. "This is the type of company that knows how to be part of the community. You're building a tax base so you can do all of the things that the city needs to do but you're also building another open door for opportunity for the people of Pontiac. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about."

Waterman noted Downtown Pontiac will see an additional spur of developments and businesses in the city, including emerging tech hub and 3D printing industries, "particularly Peter Karmanos (who) brought in the five Maddog consortium of high-tech industries."

By 2018, Williams International, an aerospace defense contractor will move its headquarters to Pontiac from Commerce Township, bringing 500 jobs and a $1.5-billion investment over eight years, Waterman said.

Troy-based United Shore, a wholesale mortgage brokerage firm, announce plant to move headquarters and 2,100 jobs to Pontiac, Waterman added. Construction will begin in January.

Southfield-based developer REDICO is also constructing the Village at Bloomfield on a failed $500-million retail and housing development site. The previous developer spent nearly $300 million on the site, formerly dubbed "Bloomfield Park," but halted construction in 2008.

Portions of the new mixed-use site is slated to open in 2019 and 2020. About 400 residential units are expected with 100 dedicated to moderate-income senior housing. The remaining 300 are expected to be multi-family units and about 950,000 square feet are reserved for retail space.

But Waterman traced back on the city's automotive industry as an anchor to its renewal phase.

"Of course General Motors, which has been a long-term industry in Pontiac -- very proud of that automotive history -- is doing all their fuel cell energy research and development right here at the Global Propulsion System in Pontiac," she said.

"We are maintaining a lot of our standard anchors and adding to that many new ones who are diversifying the economy, bringing new vitality, bringing jobs and economic development to Pontiac."

She added that four years ago, "Pontiac had the largest inventory of vacant General Motors property in the world."

During Roadkill Nights on Sunday, a drag-racing event to kick off the upcoming Woodward Dream Cruise that brought 50,000 guests, Waterman came across a sticker on a Dodge stating "Pontiac is the real Motor City."



"... that's gotta be one of our new mantras," Waterman said.

"Pontiac would even sell (itself) short to put (itself) in Detroit's shadow," Calley said in response to comparing with Detroit's comeback.

"This is a city that's been through its own process, its own tough times. (It has) some parallels to Detroit but the energy and the excitement here is palpable," Calley said. "You can really sense the way that people are giving another look at this city and seeing it right in the heart of one of the most successful counties you'll find anywhere in America."