Jackson National unveils $100M expansion plan that adds jobs
May 1, 2013 by Chad Livengood
Lansing — Jackson National Life Insurance Company on Tuesday announced a $100 million expansion of its Lansing-area campus that will allow the nation’s leading provider of retirement annuities to add 1,000 jobs in the coming years.
The insurer plans to construct a 260,000-square-foot addition to its 323,000-square-foot headquarters and a new 80,000-square-foot data imaging center on its 175-acre campus near the Okemos exit along Interstate 96. The company also plans to build an 80,000-square-foot data imaging center on the property, said Michael Wells, president and CEO of Jackson National.
Jackson National, an indirect subsidiary of Prudential plc in the United Kingdom, acquired two companies and added 150 jobs at its Lansing campus in 2012 and needs to make room for more workers as its annuities business grows, Wells said.
“We haven’t grown our headcount nearly as fast as our client count, which we shouldn’t — there should be some efficiencies there,” Wells told The Detroit News. “But we’re getting bigger and bigger, and we want to make sure we’ve got the ability to grow and not have facilities define our quality.”
Jackson National employs 2,100 at its Lansing headquarters and 4,300 nationwide, with regional offices in Chicago, Denver and Franklin, Tenn.
Wells announced the planned expansion Tuesday morning at an event in the company’s atrium alongside Gov. Rick Snyder and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. Jackson National’s headquarters is located on a piece of land in Ingham County’s Alaiedon Township that was annexed into the city of Lansing as part of a 2008 revenue-sharing agreement.
“A thousand new jobs? A hundred million dollar investment and construction jobs that come with that? Somebody pinch me,” Bernero said at the event. “I feel I must be dreaming, but I see you all here, so it must be true.”
The project still needs approval from local government planning authorities, and potential tax incentives for the company’s expansion are still being worked out, Wells said.
Snyder has placed an emphasis on expanding Michigan’s insurance industry, which is a major employer in the Lansing area. In January, he signed an executive order creating the Department of Insurance and Financial Services and splitting it off from another state agency.
“The whole insurance industry is an important one in our state,” Snyder said.
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The insurer plans to construct a 260,000-square-foot addition to its 323,000-square-foot
headquarters and a new 80,000-square-foot data imaging center on its 175-acre
campus near the Okemos exit along Interstate 96. (Jackson National Life Insurance Company)
