BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) handed out more taxpayer money this week to keep a Battle Creek mainstay from moving to Canada.

MEDC approved a 15-year designated renaissance zone for WK Kellogg Co. to retain hundreds of jobs in Battle Creek instead of moving them to Belleville, Ontario.

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The designation will become effective five years after approval from the Michigan Strategic Fund board. It represents $1.27 million in abated property taxes for an investment from the cereal maker of at least $44 million. The potential could reach $143 million.

Officials say the investment keeps 170 jobs in Michigan that had previously been on the chopping block.

WK Kellogg Co. is a new company created in October after the original Kellogg Co. split in two; the other is Kellanova, a snack maker based in Chicago.