HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) — LG Energy Solution Michigan Inc. on Tuesday celebrated the placement of the final steel beam for the expansion to its Holland plant.

“It’s a big milestone to let us know we are over the crest and on the home stretch,” Roger Traboulay, a senior manager with LG, said.

The addition was originally slated to be just shy of 1 million square feet, but Traboulay told News 8 it is now nearly 1.7 million square feet.

LG’s campus off 146th Avenue west of I-196 opened in 2010. Once complete, it will be home to the company’s North American production headquarters for lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

“This is cutting-edge technology. This is the most modern electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant there is,” Traboulay said. “Bring back the automobile jobs to Michigan, what Michigan is known for. But bring it this time clean and state of the art.”

The site will add 1,200 permanent, highly skilled jobs after it’s done in 2025.

“You’re talking about high-paying operators, technicians, engineers, that category of worker,” Traboulay explained. “And we do a lot of training.”

Jennifer Owners, president of economic development group Lakeshore Advantage, said the expansion will also support additional growth in the Holland area. She also touted the environmental benefits of EVs.

“For the city of Holland and for the lakeshore to be sustainable and to actually conserve power makes a difference,” Owens said. “It’s less power we have to generate. It’s less fuel we have to produce. It’s the right thing to do for the environment and the right thing to do for the community.”