June 2020 Industry Spotlight

Floor & Decor

Floor & Decor, a national retailer with more than 100 stores in 28 states, opened its new, 1.5 million square foot distribution center at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County in 2019. Attracted by the Port of Baltimore as a major hub, Floor & Decor is currently one of the largest customers at the Port and the second largest warehouse in Maryland. The new facility will serve Floor & Decor’s growing northeast and mid-west U.S. markets. The company is on track to bring 150 new full-time jobs to site by the end of 2023. The flooring warehouse adds to the growing industrial base at the 3,250-acre development that was formerly the home of Bethlehem Steel.

Learn more: https://careers.flooranddecor.com/distribution-centers.

MRP Industrial

MRP & ESTATEGATE

MRP Industrial executives D. Reid Townsend, Managing Principal, and Kate Nolan Bryden, Senior Vice President, are performing significant work serving the growth of the logistics industry in Harford County. Nolan Bryden states, “Eastgate is a three-building 2.3 Million SF, Class-A Industrial Park located in Aberdeen (Harford County) that MRP Industrial developed through a joint venture with PGIM Real Estate. The recently completed third and final Building A – a 1,040,000 SF expandable to 1,200,000 SF building – features an internal clear height of 40’, easy access to I-95, and prominent positioning on the Northeast regional Amtrak line visible to tens of thousands passengers per week. Additionally, our current tenants The Container Store and Kuehne + Nagel have commented time and again that the area’s access to a strong labor network within Harford County has contributed to the successful establishments of their distribution operations.” Learn more about MRP Industrial and Eastgate here: www.eastgate95.com and www.mrpindustrial.com.

Port of Baltimore

The Port of Baltimore is a huge economic driver for Baltimore and the state, and a big reason for its success are its partnerships, according to incoming Executive Director, Bill Doyle: “Tradepoint Atlantic is one example – comprising a new dry dock, BAE’s the “Titan,” Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, Amazon, Under Armour, Home Depot, Floor & Decor, and Volkswagen. The list goes on! We’ll need to keep the Howard Street tunnel project moving forward in order to double stack rail cars and move higher volumes of containers by rail in and out of the port. CSX is partnering with Maryland to see the tunnel through to completion. More rails cars mean more cargo and that means more business and jobs. We’re also very happy to now have Norfolk Southern on-dock at our Seagirt container terminal. I’m going to work closely with our partner at Seagirt, Ports America Chesapeake. They are a big reason why the Port of Baltimore is so well-positioned to accommodate some of the largest container ships in the world. I’m a big proponent of public-private partnerships and we’ll continue to work with private entities to make Baltimore the best port. We also have excellent private marine terminals that contribute so much to the port. The Port of Baltimore is definitely open for business!”