PHH Arval, a Hunt Valley company that leases and manages automotive fleets, plans to announce today that it will build a new headquarters a few miles north in Sparks for its 1,000 employees and possibly add 200 jobs.
The company, with corporate and government clients, needs room to grow and has been looking for more than a year for a new home, said George J. Kilroy, president and chief executive officer.
"The new space is a little bigger and much more efficient," Kilroy said about the new three-story building being designed for PHH. "We think this part of Baltimore County has been very good for us. The talent pool comes not just from Baltimore County, but Baltimore City, surrounding counties and southern Pennsylvania."
Kilroy said that his staff has had to work harder through the economic downturn, but that business was strong at PHH, a subsidiary of Cendant Corp.
He said many clients have decided to use companies such as PHH to maintain their fleets of cars and trucks because they can save money. PHH and a European partner manage about 1.2 million vehicles worldwide.
The company will move to a 200,000-square-foot building in the Highlands Corporate Park in northern Baltimore County. It will be constructed on land formerly owned by Integrated Health Services, which maintains a headquarters nearby.
Baltimore County and state officials offered PHH incentives because they were concerned that it might move to Pennsylvania, where many employees live.
The county is negotiating a loan of about $300,000 and work force training money in the range of $100,000. The terms are likely to become more favorable as PHH adds employees, said Fronda J. Cohen, a spokeswoman for the county's Department of Economic Development.
"Sparks has really taken off as a wonderful corporate headquarters location," Cohen said. "PHH's new headquarters facility will give them room to grow. They could be adding up to 200 new employees in four years. That would be a nice addition to the county's work force."
The state is offering a loan that converts to a grant "larger than the county's" when the company hires new employees, said David S. Iannucci, secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development. PHH would also receive work force training dollars, help in the permitting process and consulting services from the University of Maryland technology extension service. New jobs would also make the company eligible for tax credits.
The state said the package is not completed and would not disclose its value.
"One thousand jobs in any region is a resource that has to be protected," said Iannucci, who has placed an emphasis on retaining existing businesses and helping them expand. "These are not low-level jobs."
The building will be developed by Partners Realty Trust, a company controlled by members of the Knott family that has until now primarily focused on residential real estate.
The space PHH will leave behind when it moves in early 2004 is in a thriving area in Hunt Valley. County and real estate officials expect that building to be occupied again quickly.