For Syed Abidi, chief executive officer of Pharmaceutics Inc., the choice was whether to move his business and jobs from Baltimore County to some other location that could accommodate the company?s growth.
He decided to stay in Hunt Valley and expand.
And it was the legwork of Baltimore County economic development officials who pitched a low interest loan and helped the company find a Hunt Valley location, that persuaded him to stay.
“We were doing some soul searching,” Abidi said.
“We had been in Baltimore County since 1994, but we were at full capacity in our building.”
The company took a $500,000 low-interest loan from Baltimore County to help purchase and renovate a new building. The new building is set to open in the second or third quarter of next year, Abidi said.
Pharmaceutics? current location on Gilroy Road in Hunt Valley will continue as the company base, but a new building in Hunt Valley will house about 40 new employees, Abidi said. His company has more than 200 high-paying jobs, he added.
Baltimore County officials cite Pharmaceutics as one example of 32 companies over the past fiscal year that the county helped with real estate and equipment purchases as well as building expansions and improvements.
Those businesses created more than 669 new jobs and the loans helped retain 957 existing jobs in the county, according to the county?s economic development department. Loans from the department totaled $5.25 million during the fiscal year.
The loans ranged from $20,000 to convert an abandoned Pikesville building to a spa to the $500,000 for Pharmaceutics, which makes clinical supplies.
“Baltimore County?s business finance programs are designed to encourage private sector investment and spur job creation,” stated David Lannucci, executive director for the county?s economic development department.
