After Building New Headquarters, Owings Mills Company is Hiring

A document management company celebrated the opening of its new Red Run Boulevard headquarters last week, and now it’s looking to fill a few desk chairs in that building.

Despite a struggling economy and unemployment rates in Maryland hovering around 7 percent, Owings Mills-based Centric plans to hire about 30 positions in the coming months, upping its total employee count to between 160 and 170.

The company is also looking to acquire two other businesses in the coming months, Citybizlist reported Wednesday.

Centric’s new, 39,000-square foot building was built to U.S. Green Building Council LEED Gold standards, a Merritt Properties spokeswoman said. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, measures several categories related to sustainability, including water and energy efficiency, design innovation and indoor air quality.

Merritt Construction Services, built the new headquarters, which is co-owned by Centric president Rick Bastinelli and Merritt Properties. The building includes a showroom and customer service center, an expanded call center, larger on-site training space and a fitness center, a Merritt statement said. 

Centric also has offices in Rockville, Hagerstown and Salisbury, but chose to build its new headquarters on Red Run Boulevard.

"We are pleased that Centric Business Systems has decided to stay and grow in Owings Mills,” Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said in a prepared statement. “We are especially pleased that they will be in a building constructed to high standards for sustainable, green construction and operations."

Said Bastinelli: “So much of our business is to make companies greener,” so it made sense to seek LEED Gold certification, which has not yet been confirmed.

Merritt Properties may also be eligible for Baltimore County's High Performance Building Tax Credit, which offers an 80 percent tax credit for five years for new commercial construction that has been certified at the LEED Platinum level.

There is a sliding tax credit scale for construction at the gold or silver level, a county statement said.

With the new building up and more jobs coming to Baltimore County, Kamenetz couldn’t resist encouraging new Centric employees to take one extra step.

“We hope you all purchase homes here,” he said.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story misidentified the owner of Merritt Construction Services. It is a division of Merritt Properties. Centric's new headquarters is co-owned by Centric president Rick Bastinelli and Merritt Properties.