Calls to Shut Down the MEDC Intensify Amid Scandal — What Has the Agency Delivered for Macomb County?

Sterling Heights has secured more than $270 million in state incentives to remake the former Lakeside Mall, the largest of several local development deals tied to jobs, investment and public promises. Now, a criminal case involving a former Michigan Economic Development Corporation leader and fresh legislative efforts to abolish the agency have sharpened the question for local taxpayers: Did those deals deliver lasting results, or mostly ambitious promises attached to public incentives?

Fay Beydoun, a former MEDC executive committee member appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, was charged with 16 felony counts on May 6, 2026, by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel for allegedly misusing a $20 million state grant administered through the MEDC. The charges include conducting a criminal enterprise, larceny by conversion, forgery, and uttering and publishing. The grant was awarded to Global Link International, a company Beydoun created and controlled, and was intended to attract international businesses to Michigan. Court affidavits allege Beydoun used grant funds to pay herself a $550,000 annual salary, purchase a $4,500 coffee maker, $6,000 in Tunisian rugs, and cover personal expenses such as luxury items, plane tickets, and hosting political events. The MEDC canceled the grant payments in March 2025, citing misuse of taxpayer funds, and is demanding the return of the money.

The scandal is not an isolated incident: a 2025 audit found the MEDC paid $10 million to an ineligible recipient before they met grant milestones, due to inadequate payment approval processes. The agency has also spent over $500,000 since fiscal year 2024 on social media influencers to promote Michigan tourism.

Michigan State Representatives Steve Carra and Jay DeBoyer introduced bills to formally abolish the MEDC and bar the Michigan Strategic Fund from contracting with local governments for economic development. Senator Thomas Albert introduced a package of bills to eliminate the MEDC, the Michigan Strategic Fund, and several subsidy programs, redirecting their funding to the state's General Fund while creating a new Bureau of Fair Competition and Free Enterprise within the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to wind down obligations.

That statewide debate has direct stakes in Sterling Heights. Over the years, the MEDC has steered incentives to the city in return for commitments to create jobs, retain workers, invest in facilities and redevelop major sites.

BAE Systems was approved in April 2008 for a $22.1 million tax credit over 14 years and a $460,000 job training grant from the MEDC for a $58.4 million expansion expected to create 460 new jobs in Sterling Heights. AGS Automotive received a $900,000 Michigan Business Development Program incentive in May 2012 to create 90 new jobs through a $21.2 million expansion. Chrysler's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant received a state tax credit of up to $10 million in 2018 to invest $80 million and help retain 1,809 jobs. HTI Cybernetics received a $600,000 performance-based grant in October 2018 to invest $20.6 million and create 100 jobs over five years.

Most recently, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board approved a $270,678,999 Transformational Brownfield Plan to redevelop the former Lakeside Mall site into the mixed-use Lakeside City Center, expected to create 337 new jobs, retain 312 existing jobs, and drive up to $567 million in private investment. The development plan includes approximately 1,545 residential units. The incentive package is structured to reimburse eligible development costs over approximately 30 years. Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor called the Michigan Strategic Fund Board approval of more than $270 million in financial incentives the project's biggest hurdle.

The results of past deals are mixed. By October 2010, BAE Systems reported its Sterling Heights facility would employ up to 500 engineers in its second phase, slightly exceeding the original 460-job target. AGS Automotive later exceeded its 90-job commitment, reaching approximately 300 total jobs at its Sterling Heights facility. The MEDC has not published final job counts or retention outcomes for the HTI Cybernetics 2018 grant or the Chrysler Assembly Plant 2018 tax credit.

The Lakeside City Center redevelopment has not yet broken ground; with all city and state approvals secured, demolition of the former mall is projected for the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, with Phase One construction running into the early 2030s.

Mayor Taylor was appointed by Governor Whitmer to the MEDC Executive Committee on March 20, 2026, with a term expiring April 5, 2027. That puts Sterling Heights' mayor inside the agency's leadership as the city prepares to rely on one of the biggest incentive packages in its history — at the same time the agency faces mounting pressure to reform or close.

The abolition bills face an uncertain path in Michigan's divided legislature, but the proposals signal growing bipartisan frustration with the agency's accountability. If the MEDC were abolished, existing commitments like the 30-year Lakeside City Center incentive package would likely be grandfathered or assigned to a successor agency, but future deals could be blocked.

For Sterling Heights, the accountability question is both historical and forward-looking: will the quarter-billion-dollar Lakeside incentive produce measurable economic gains, or become another headline that fails to deliver?