Harford County Leads Region in Filling Industrial Vacancies

Harford County is filling up vacant warehouse spaces, helping Maryland gain recognition as the tenth in industrial space absorption nationwide, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

The journal reported that Harford County has absorbed 1.1 million square feet of warehouse space so far this year, with the region as a whole absorbing 1.5 million square feet.

Havre de Grace and Aberdeen offer Enterprise Zone tax credits, which provide incentives for businesses in the US Route 40 corridor. Through this program, businesses receive a 10-year real property tax credit for making building improvements, according to the Havre de Grace Office of Economic Development. In 2012, Cytec and Toy Thym in Havre de Grace were awarded Enterprise Zone tax credits by the City Council.

Edgewood and Joppa are also part of an Enterprise Zone. 

Other incentives are the Harford County Economic Development Opportunity Fund, the Havre de Grace revitalization and development loans, job creation tax credits and Neighborhood Business Works loans.

The drive to attract businesses is paying off so far in 2013.

At the end of 2012, the vacancy rate in the Baltimore area was 10.21, according to Colliers International. In Harford County, the year-to-date vacancy rate was 5.8, the Baltimore Business Journal reported Monday.

In addition to tax credits, one county official attributes Harford County's business appeal to geography.

“You can reach 50 percent of the United States population overnight from Harford County,” Jim Richardson, Harford County's economic development director, told I95 Business Magazine. “That makes us very attractive.”