The nation?s 10th largest defense contractor is coming to Baltimore. Alliant Techsystems Inc., headquartered in Edina, Minn., is moving its Mission Systems Group to Canton Crossing in Baltimore.
ATK will open its temporary offices in the facility in about two weeks and will complete work on two floors of the 17-story Canton Crossing office tower by the spring.
“We chose Baltimore because it is very centrally located to our customer base,” corporate spokesman Bryce Hallowell said. “And, the Baltimore area has a substantial engineering population that we can draw from and who can come to work with ATK. It?s a market we want to be in.”
Some 80 corporate staff and engineering support employees will be hired to staff the new offices, he said, with some employees earning in excess of $100,000 annually.
“We are a pretty advanced company, and to get and attract the talent, we recognize that we want to pay well,” Hallowell said.
ATK sales during its second quarter, which ended Oct. 1, were $833 million, an 8 percent jump from the previous year quarter figure of $772 million.
The company will concentrate on defense, satellite and specialty components for aircraft at its Baltimore office, Hallowell said.
ATK?s lease at Canton Crossing is just the latest in several newleases to be signed by CB Richard Ellis, the real estate company charged with attracting tenants.
Ellis first vice president Kevin Wille said companies like ATK are attracted to Canton Cross for three reasons.
“It?s a great location, a great building, and it offers free parking,” Wille said.
Tenants at the building, which opened in the summer of 2002, include 1st Mariner Bank, About Faces Day Spa and Salon, Brennan Response, CareFirst, Comcast, Green Deveney law firm, Merritt Athletic Club, the testing and assessment company Thomson ProMetric, and the architecture and engineering firm Whitney, Bailey, Cox & Magnani, among others. Longtime Baltimore favorite Della Rose?s also has a restaurant and tavern in the office building.
Wille said CB Richard Ellis has prospects for about 30,000 square feet of space in the building that he hopes to bring in during 2007.
In addition to the office tower, Canton Crossing, under development by Hale Properties Inc., will include commercial and retail space and residential developments on 65 acres of waterfront property.
