Major job announcement coming for Shreveport's former General Motors plant

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will be in Shreveport Friday to announce a new manufacturing tenant for the former General Motors complex that could create as many as 600 jobs.

Edwards' staff declined to comment on specifics of the deal, citing confidentiality, but a press conference has been scheduled downtown at 2 p.m. in the Remington Garage at 211 Market St.

The North Louisiana Economic Partnership sent an email to its investors Thursday describing the event as a "major economic development announcement" without details.

General Motors closed it Shreveport's truck plant, a complex that includes about 4 million square feet, in 2012. GM had employed about 500 of its own workers at the plant and thousands more jobs were connected to production at the plant.

In 2013 Elio Motors promised to revive vehicle production there by 2015, but the deal fell apart.

Since then other companies have taken up smaller portions of the complex.

In April of this year thyssenkrupp announced it would expand into the complex and take up about 600,000 square feet.

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Major job announcement coming for Shreveport's former GM plant