Solo Cup closes Havre de Grace center as it cuts costs - Baltimore Business Journal:

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cup maker continues consolidatingg itsreal estate. The company shut down the 500,000-square-foot facilithy in mid-December, around the same time it laid off 150 productioh line workers and 29 corporate jobs inOwingzs Mills. Workers were notified about a month beforethe Dec. 14 closure and were givej the opportunity to transfer to either Owinges Mills or Hampstead inCarrolk County, company spokeswoman Angie Chaplin Only 10 employees accepted the offer. Solo Cup owns the propertuy at 1900Clark Road, which is assessed at $20.4 and has retained Cushman Wakefield of Maryland to sell or lease the property. Leasing space there would cost $3.8t per square foot.
Harford County’s unemployment rate has climbecfrom 3.1 percent in November 2007 to 5 percenft in November 2008 as 2,500 workersw lost their jobs in the countu over the past year. The situatiohn is just as severee across Greater Baltimore andthe state, wher e the unemployment rate increased to 5.8 percenyt in December. A number of employers have announces large numbers ofjob cuts, including in Baltimorde County, Harland Clarke in Anne Arundel County, and more recently, in Howars County.
Solo Cup did not notift economic development officials in Havrde de Grace or inHarforde County, where news of the plant’s closure disappointed but did not surprisre Harford County Economic Development Director James C. Richardson. The companty has been downsizing or closing plants across the country, including operations in Albuquerque, and a manufacturing plant near its Illinois headquarters. The compang paid $4.5 million in severance and othedr costs tied to thoses plant closures for the quarterended Sept. 28, the company said in its most recent quarterly report filedin November.
For the quarter, the company postes net sales of $462 million, down from $527 milliojn for third quarter 2007. Its earnings were $13 million down from $21 millionm in third quarter 2007. The decisionn to close its Havre de Grace facility was driven by upgrade s and improved equipment atSolo Cup’s othet sites, including in Hampstead, Chaplin said. As the reportede May 23, Solo Cup has considered consolidatingf its Owings Mills and Havre de Grace plantsz into larger spacein Hampstead. Chaplin said the companyt is still studying its space in Greater About 950 plant and corporate employees work at the OwingsMillws site. Baltimore County Economic Development DirectorDavid S.
Iannucci said he is concerned aboutf keeping Solo Cup in the countg and has initiated several meetingws with the company over thepast