Maryland Offers Unique Access To Government Agencies

For businesses involved in advanced technology, defense and health sciences, Maryland offers firms unique business access to 50 federal agencies, 60 universities and several

Fortune 500 corporations, as well as proximity to Washington, D.C.

Maryland's officials are working overtime to enhance the state's business climate advantages. This year Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state's Legislature have implemented measures to further support business endeavors in the state.

In April, the state established the country's first benefit corporation, which allows social entrepreneurs to consider stakeholders like employees, communities or the environment in business decisions. The move is expected to generate new capital for social ventures from investors who want to invest in these types of companies.

Earlier in the session the governor signed emergency legislation, the Job Creation and Recovery Tax Credit, which provides a $5,000 tax credit to Maryland businesses for each unemployed Marylander it hires. Legislation was also implemented to assist small businesses by updating the state's unemployment insurance trust fund, which was hit by higher-than-normal unemployment rates due to the national recession.

In addition to tax relief, Maryland is moving forward with improvements to its physical infrastructure. Thanks to stimulus funds awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $25 million project is underway to replace a 50-year-old bridge at the interchange of Interstate 695 and state Highway 26.

Industries And Innovation

Maryland is well suited to support cluster activities in aerospace and defense; education and research; energy and sustainability; finance and professional services; health and life sciences; hospitality and recreation; information and technology, and manufacturing and production.

Recent project activity in the aerospace and defense cluster includes Sensor Technologies which has leased 63,000 square feet of office space near the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County to accommodate 300 employees. The company could eventually double its staff to 600. “We are one of the few growth markets in the nation right now,” says Jim Richardson, director, office of economic development, Harford County. “We are on a positive trend on all of our numbers, including capitalization and housing.”

In recent years, Harford County has welcomed 30 new companies associated with the military, who are moving resources to the county to be located near the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. The companies are conducting primary contracts for the Army's communications and electronic command, Richardson notes.

The proving ground will add 8,500 additional jobs, expected to be complete by Sept. 15, 2011 according to BRAC requirements. Richardson notes that the personnel is bringing with them family members who are looking for jobs, for example, in the health care professions.

In regard to the broader expanse of Maryland's health and life sciences cluster, Montgomery County's County Executive and County Council have recently enacted the Greater Seneca Science Corridor Master Plan, a 20-year, $10 billion land-use initiative to build and expand the already thriving life sciences sector. In addition to county officials, other stakeholders include Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Montgomery College, and private sector firms such as MedImmune LLC and Human Genome Sciences. Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, D.C., also features the Washington Adventist Hospital.

To encourage public and private sector investments in the initiative, the county has created an expanded life sciences center zone to make it easier for these firms to expand. The county has also enacted the nation's first local biotech tax credit, which is a monetary match for companies that raise private capital. “We are piggybacking on the state's tax credit to provide additional dollars to these startups,” says Steve Silverman, director, Montgomery County Department of Economic Development. “The credit will kick off in January and we are targeting $2 million.”

Silverman adds the county will also expand its revolving loan program effective July 1, to $2 million to loan to small businesses looking to start up or expand. “We have had this in place for years, but never at this level,” Silverman says. “It is a reflection on the economy, where most job creation starts in the small business community.”

The newly formed Green Economy Task Force is identifying and working with startup companies in regard to smart grid efforts and energy-efficiency programs.

The county's officials are also under way with new initiatives in regard to programs to link government contractors to its 19 federal agencies and labs, including the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. “We rank second in the country in regard to federal contracting fees, and the contractors that are expanding are critical in this economy where there is not a lot of focus on private sector expansion,” Silverman notes.

Federal contractors also find business advantages in Columbia and Howard County, located halfway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The county is also located adjacent to Fort Meade, the headquarters of the National Security Agency, and which will be home to the Defense Information Systems Agency, which runs secure global networks for the federal government. Under the latest round of BRAC, Fort Meade is expected to add 6,000 direct jobs. The largest private sector employer in the Howard County is Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab, which employees 5,000; three-fourths of which are Ph.D.s says Richard Story, CEO, Howard County Economic Development Authority. He notes the bulk of the county's new growth has been in health care and federal government contracting. The county is also an ideal business destination for regional and national headquarter operations.

Back at the state level, the manufacturing and distribution sector finds advantages in Harford County, which Richardson notes is becoming the location of large manufacturing and distribution operations, including Bob's Discount Furniture's 873,000-square-foot Mid-Atlantic distribution center. “I-95 runs through our county, and we are only 30 miles from the Port of Baltimore,” Richardson says.

The manufacturing industry of Allegany County in western Maryland has undergone diversification since its days of being a heavy industrial economy. “We have a lighter type of manufacturing,” says Matt Diaz, director, Allegany County Department of Economic Development. Hunter Douglas, a manufacturer of window treatments and blinds employs 600 workers at its northeast manufacturing and distribution center in the county. American Woodmark Corp., a cabinet manufacturer and assembler employs 300 workers in the county. There are also a host of smaller light manufacturing firms of 20 employees to 30 employees.

Diaz notes that the transformation of the Allegany County economy and the training and retraining of the workforce has been able to fill the needs of a new regional medical center, as well as customer service and call centers in the county. Additionally, the county has partnered with Frostburg State University to develop collaborative relationships with companies they are trying to attract to the Allegany Business Center at Frostburg State University.

Talent And Education

This year the state Legislature passed Gov. O'Malley's Education Reform Act of 2010, which aims to further reform Maryland's schools.

During the past few years, Maryland has been investing record funding in the state's schools, which was recognized by Education Week, which ranked Maryland public schools No. 1 in the nation for two straight years. The funding for school construction exceeded more the $1 billion during a three-year period, the first time this has occurred in the state.

In addition to initiatives at the K-12 education level, at the higher education level, Maryland is the only state in the nation to freeze college tuition for in-state students four years in a row.

Assets

In regard to physical infrastructure activities in the state, the Maryland Department of Transportation is spending a couple of billion dollars annually on the Intercounty Connector, the first legs of which will open in 2011. Story says the connector joins Baltimore and Washington, D.C., more closely, “and puts Howard County another 30 minutes closer to the FDA, NIH and many federal agencies that some of our companies depending on in the Washington region.”

In other asset-related activities, Maryland's counties have been busy with revitalization efforts. In Allegany County, Cumberland's downtown has been revitalized to draw more businesses and people back to the downtown. In other efforts in the county, two older hospitals were combined into the larger, state-of-the-art Western Maryland Health System's Regional Medical Center, which services a tri-state region including communities in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, Diaz notes.

In Howard County, Story says most of the key pieces of legislation have been adopted by the local government in regard to a significant redevelopment plan in the downtown, which is among the next wave of regional malls. “It is just a matter of putting the final designs together,” Story says. The 30-year plan is for a 600-acre mixed-use site. “Under the zoning that has been passed, there will be 5 million square feet of new offices, 1,250,000 million square feet of new retail, 5,500 new residences, and a 640-room conventional hotel, which will be attached to the mall.

Lifestyle

Maryland ranks fifth among the states with the largest proportions of racial minorities in the country, which economic development officials believe creates a rich cultural base in this state of 5.6 million people.

Maryland's citizens make up the nation's highest median household income at $70,545; as well as a per capita personal income that is 21 percent higher than the national average. What's more, in regard to costs of living, Maryland is home to the lowest cost of living average for urban areas when compared to New York state, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Written and compiled by Rachel Duran.

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