The new offices and warehouse of a major construction supplier will rise from a former yeast plant later this year, the latest addition to the Holabird Industrial Park in Southeast Baltimore.
Executives from Aluma Systems, a provider of concrete construction forms, joined Monday with developer Helmsman Property Services and real estate broker Corridor Reznick to break ground on 28,000 square feet of industrial space and six acres of yard space.
Aluma, a division of Georgia-based construction supplier Brand Services, is currently based in Beltsville. The new facility is expected to bring 50 jobs to Baltimore in the next few years.
“This is going to be our Northeast base for many years to come,” said Stephen Tisdall, Aluma president and general manager.
The site was used in the early 1900s as a vinegar plant and was later converted into a yeast plant, according to information provided by Corridor Reznick.
The property was purchased by 2100 Van Deman Street LLC in December 2006 for $2 million, with plans to redevelop the aging buildings on-site. Several were knocked down, and leftover piping and asbestos were removed in more than nine months of demolition, said Michael Glick, president of Helmsman Property Services. He said the total cost of the project will be about $5.5 million.
Glick saidthe Maryland Department of the Environment signed off on the site, and construction and renovation for Aluma will take about four months.
“It?s the kind of project everyone can get behind,” Glick said. “There?s no neighbors, though there?s some water back there that we have to be respectful of.”
Once Aluma moves in, the company will house 200 to 300 tractor-trailer loads of concrete forms in the yard and warehouse space. The sheer size of the operation means Aluma will be a part of Baltimore for the foreseeable future.
“We?re great tenants to have, because we can?t move easily,” said Roger Nolan, general manager for Aluma?s Northeast division.
