Harford County's Office of Economic Development has completed a move to be where the action is, close to Aberdeen Proving Ground and in the midst of a group of business start-ups, county leaders said during the office's public unveiling Tuesday at the Swan Creek Village Center in Havre de Grace.
"Make sure you visit; spread the word," Harford County Executive Barry Glassman told the group of business and community leaders and county employees during a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony. "We are open for business."
While talking about the county's partnership with Aberdeen Proving Ground and prospective business leaders, Glassman said he thought: "Wouldn't it be nice if folks could walk into a modern, efficient, state-of-the-art facility as we attract them to become partners in Harford County?"
Glassman and other tenants of the building – Tenax Technology, E-moxie, Federal Initiatives NextGen – touted the shared space as innovative and a sign of hope for a revitalized business corridor on Route 40.
County Economic Development Director Karen Holt noted the location close to the APG gate.
"We are going to take economic development out of the county building and put it directly on the corridor to serve our business community," she said.
Shortly after taking office Dec. 1, Glassman announced the move of the main Economic Development Office from Bel Air to the consolidated space on Route 40, giving the county a total of 12,645 square feet at Swan Creek. The county had already been leasing a satellite office at the site for several years, for $90,285.12 a year. The new space will cost another $196,699.36 annually, plus taxes, utilities, common area maintenance and insurance.
County activities that were already at Swan Creek include The GROUNDFLOOR at Harford business incubator and the Chesapeake Science and Security Corridor, the latter a consortium of regional representatives created to manage the impact of the Army's BRAC process on surrounding areas.
John-Paul Lapps, vice president of Federal Initiatives NextGen Federal Systems LLC, said the building has definitely helped his company in its quest to be a top-notch IT service provider.
He said the company just hired its 35th employee and is looking to double its numbers in the next 18 months, with the hopes of eventually getting its own building or facility.
"The path we have chosen is not smoothly paved," Lapps said of business start-ups like his, adding he wants to continue working with the economic development office and appreciates the support as a small, growing company.
Jill McClune, president of Harford Business Innovation Center, another activity housed at Swan Creek that moved from Belcamp in January, said the new location marked a re-branding for her organization.
The services of the Innovation Center will be merged into Harford Business Edge, she said, and will bring together services already existing in the community to better support businesses and entrepreneurs.
"It's going to really take a strategy to take all of us to the next level and expand our capacity to bring new businesses into this area and create new businesses in this area," she said.
Chris Stone, president of web design firm E-moxie, said he hopes other start-up businesses consider taking advantage of The GROUNDFLOOR, which calls itself "the first co-working space in Harford County."
"When we started the company a little over 10 years ago, we did not have resources like this. We did not know what we were doing; we did not know resources even existed like this," he said.
County Councilman Chad Shrodes, who presented a proclamation to the tenants on behalf of the council, recalled when the shopping center housed the Ames store. Councilmen Pat Vincenti and Curtis Beulah and Council President Richard Slutzky joined Shrodes in the presentation.
"This is what revitalization is all about and this is where we need it, on the Route 40 corridor," Shrodes said, thanking Robert Hockaday, one of the building's owners and a Glassman political supporter and confidant, for supporting the lease.
"I hope this does send a big message that we are open for business, and this is the location that it needs to occur," Shrodes said.
Eric McLauchlin, chairperson of the county's Economic Development Advisory Board, called the new location "an incredible business opportunity" and challenged everyone in attendance to "go out in the community and talk about this place."